Some might say the fact that this year coming to an end is the best thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Could be.
Like you, I have experienced 2020 as a mind-numbing, head-spinning, heart-wrenching, faith-testing, and angst-ridden year.
And yet.
I find much to be thankful for this year. Because, in spite of the horrendous challenges, it’s also been a year of deep thought and reckoning – within ourselves, our own communities, and our national community. We’ve had endless conversations about our personal values and character and why it all matters, what is our place in this world, what home really means, and how slowing down and closing in helped many of us to find joy in the smallest pleasures as if they were gifts from the gods (and they probably were).
I’ve heard more friends and others express childlike glee at watching birds out their window, or the emerging growth of newly planted seeds. Together in technology-enabled gatherings, we’ve shared so many laughs, and some tears, made a few memories and mostly just “held” each other in ways that communicated “we’re here, we’re together, and it’ll be ok.” On safe outings, we’ve explored neighborhood and community parks, Sunday drives and picnics even on a Monday or a Thursday. And of course, all the cooking and baking and eating and streaming we could take in. Good stuff for the soul, if not the belly.
Simple and satisfying pleasures long forgotten and newly embraced.
We’ve learned – well, some of us have – to be more present in the everyday, in the communities in which we are members, and in the relationships that sustain us. The reliance we have on each other has never been so pronounced.
And then. There have been so many losses this year. The sheer volume of lives lost or upended with little relief in sight is shocking and wrenching to our very core. At least it should be. Some loss was more personal than others. People we loved, character in our country that we assumed was bedrock, relationships that changed or shifted downward right in front of us. Losses all. Heart and soul crushing.
And still.
A wise prophet of our time, Mr. Springsteen, said recently about this time and age, “You learn to accept the world on its terms without giving up the belief that you can change the world. A successful adulthood includes the maturation of your thought process and very soul to the point where you understand the limits of life, without giving up on its possibilities.”
Love that.
With this most favorite holiday upon us, we can still find possibility and much to be grateful for, even though our celebrations will look and feel very different.
- Being here tops the list, I have to say. With the health and safety of our loved ones alongside.
- The grace we witness every single day in the countless health care workers risking their lives simply doing their jobs, in the teachers who carry on with little or no guidance or tools in order to continue bringing light and learning to their students so they don’t give up or lose their way; in the essential workers whose presence keeps doors open so we don’t go without. And so many others that we carry in our grateful hearts always.
- Heck, I’m grateful for sitting in front of this laptop and finally feeling the desire to string a few words together, maybe even a sentence or two, into something of meaning (you be the judge).
- And finally, Hope. A commodity that has wavered somewhat this year but that gives us the energy and fortitude to carry on with an open heart.
We’ve a ways to go before we emerge safe and whole again, in more ways than physical. This far in, there’s no looking back. We will not emerge unscathed, but I know we will come through this better than before. Individually, and as a human community.
So, let’s follow Bruce’s lead and accept where we’re at right now, with the belief and the commitment that we change the world forward – not back – to a place of possibility, for everyone.
That’s more than enough to be thankful for.
Till next time. Happy Thanksgiving.
Judy