What a great holiday Thanksgiving is! We get to celebrate eating together. Who could be against that?
In many different ways, we Americans thank people who have helped us become who we are when we gather at Thanksgiving – our families, our mentors, our teachers, our guides, our friends. Still at some companies, they give each associate a turkey for Thanksgiving. Doesn’t that bring back memories?
We also deliberately pay attention to people we don’t know when we give both our time and our money to others less fortunate. Most of the rest of the year we rush past the homeless or give a dollar when we can.
So far, our actions have targeted the past and the present.
What about the future? What can we do to give thanks for what is yet to come? When I think of the future, I have great hope and excitement about the possibilities exemplified by the millennial generation. I see many with a generous worldview that spans way past the boundaries of this country. They assume a world that many of us have worked our whole lives to attempt to create – a world without prejudice based on gender or sexual orientation, or race or national origin.
So just like the Pilgrims sat down with the Wampanoag in 1621 to celebrate the first successful harvest in New England, I will sit down, eat, and give thanks. Yes, I will remember the previous generations who sacrificed so much so that we would live in such great health and prosperity.
When I sit down to eat with a household full of boomers and millennials, I choose to be thanking forward – to celebrate the world that is to come. A world where more people beyond our community will have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And, I choose to commit some part of my time, talent, and money to mentoring that next generation. My thanks for their optimism, energy, and caring for the globe and its peoples. And, for their help with technology. If they just could dump the sigh and the eye rolling……
Image courtesy of Stylish Eve blog