Be Thankful: By Ryan Robinson
Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I know Thanksgiving means so many different things to so many different people, old or young, American or Hispanic; everyone does something different on America’s “Get Together” day. In our family, the morning is pretty much, get up, make a special breakfast and watch the parade. Then, it’s off to my cousin’s house a little while down the Parkway where we eat and spend time with family there. A new tradition for Thanksgiving that we do, is after we eat and have dessert, it’s always a battle of the sexes with Charades. Usually, every year it’s a different topic. Sometimes it’s movies, sometimes TV shows, sometimes famous actors or actresses, the list goes on. Everyone laughs, everyone has a great time, and we all look forward to doing it next year together as a family.
I know you also know that sometimes in the future, you look back upon those Thanksgivings and see something different about them. Sometimes you notice a person was there that isn’t there now. Maybe that person died, maybe they’re in the hospital, maybe that person is out serving our country and could not be present for this Thanksgiving celebration. Maybe there’s a feud that happened in your family and some certain members “just don’t want to show up”. It always seems that when you have that first Thanksgiving when that person or persons isn’t there, it seems different. I know when my Grandma died, it was right before Easter when we go to my other cousin’s house. Being so close to her passing, I didn’t feel that usual joyous feeling you get when seeing family and having it be Easter. It felt missing, like having a meal but that usual dish that this one member of the family always brings, isn’t there. It just doesn’t feel right.
Be thankful for the family you have, the good times you have or had, the memory of eating the food that others made just for this event and for you, and maybe for those certain people that are here for this celebration, but might not for the next. Be thankful that you live in a house with heat, with food, with a TV, with your children, with your parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, because so many others don’t. They have no home, no heat, no food, no TV or any type of communication. They have no money, no family, no clothes, nothing. Be thankful you live in the greatest country on the face of the Earth, where you are free, have rights and liberties that others don’t. Others are persecuted for their religion, not allowed to talk back to the government, ordered and bossed around, and they really want to live here because we don’t have those rules.
Be thankful this Thanksgiving and think of those who are not as lucky as yourself. A little thing I learned once in church, which is a stark reminder of the world we live today, is a great thing to do when praying. When you pray at night or even before you eat your Thanksgiving meal; look at the tag on your shirt. Look at where it says Made in __________, and then pray for the people in that country. They are probably working hard with little pay to make the shirt your wearing which you can buy and afford because you are so thankful.
So, this Thanksgiving when you watch the parade, or fly or drive to see family, or if you have people come over to your own house, remember what Thanksgiving is really about. Being thankful.