Thanksgiving
Should everyone attending
fill out this questionaire before arriving?
Who do we thank this year?
For what?
What are we grateful for?
As we exist wherever we are,
are we thankful to be there?
Is Thanksgiving just a meal, or
Is there an additional purpose?
Is family still important?
Are children part of the celebration,
or is it just adults in conversation?
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Is the family politically divided?
What is the main topic of conversation?
Is controversy predictable?
Are there subjects that must be avoided?
Do most prefer walking on eggshells?
Is religion part of the meal blessing or
even in the conversation?
How is the location determined?
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Do diet restrictions determine the menu?
Is the menu more traditional or more contemporary?
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In this age of divisiveness and controversy, do the
“hot button” subjects of the moment take precedence
over the warm relations of our families? Or do they
impede, even destroy our basic relationships? In other
words, have our priorities changed over these past years
from the closeness of those we have known most of our lives
to the widespread communication with people we know
only through electronics at the click of a button or keystroke?
Has the personal in our lives become impersonal? Does this
mean that our lives are now connected more electronically?
What will this mean in the years and decades to come when our
children and grandchildren are in charge of what our country will
have become? Are we looking forward to “common sense” or to
the insanity or “idiocracy” led by those who destroy rather than build?
Have the media of all kinds taken over our minds even now, or will we
regain the ability to oppose? Can we eliminate censorship in all aspects
of our society starting now? If so, we can begin again to be truly thankful.
And we can also rediscover to whom our thanks should be offered. And
then we can re-acknowledge the One, the only One to whom we thank
for our families and friends and all those living temporarily on this earth.
This is, of course, the real meaning of the celebration of “Thanksgiving!”