Giving Thanks

For many Americans, the celebration of Thanksgiving is complicated and full of paradoxes.  On the one hand, Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude for the harvest season and for having food and shelter, and a time to come together with family and friends to appreciate each other's company and health.  It's a time for generosity and understanding.  It's a warm and cozy celebration of togetherness in the midst of the world's craziness.  On the other hand, however, the holiday seems unjustified when considering our past and the events that led us here.  Although we like to think of Thanksgiving as a peaceful time of good company and good food, it also unfortunately represents the large-scale genocide of Native people on this land, the tragedy and warfare that tarnished America's beginnings, and the disagreements that people have always had because of cultural differences.  It makes me stop and wonder, for what are we giving thanks?

Awareness of cultural diversity and various perspectives is especially important now, in a country in which violence and misunderstanding are prevalent, where immigrants and refugees desperately need our help, and where we face a great national divide that is complicated and multifactorial.  Peace, thanksgiving, and love sometimes seem very far away.

A new wing of the hospital where I work opened this week. The rooms are gorgeous and welcoming, the artwork on the walls is cheerful and colorful, and it is a space that promotes healing.  Before the wing opened, there was a multicultural blessing from the Faith Leaders of various dominations in the Santa Fe community.  The Archbishop of Santa Fe made the first blessing, followed by other Priests, pastors from other Christian churches, leaders from Presbyterian and Methodist denominations, Jewish Rabbis, a Buddhist monk, a Sihk guru, and a representative from the Navajo nation.  The ceremony was beautiful and really highlighted the fact that we are all speaking the same message despite differences in language and dress, and that prayers for healing span all denominations regardless of the words used or the title of the religious leader.  We are all in this together.  That is a message I hold with me on this Thanksgiving Day.

As I express gratitude for my health and my work, I also remember and honor the patients I have treated in past years.  On holidays we often have very meaningful interactions with people who are isolated, alone and coming to terms with their injury or disease.  I remember a woman who passed away on Thanksgiving a few years ago after dealing with an illness for her entire adult life, and I hope for peace and healing for her family.

At church this week, we said a prayer that was written by the children’s group.  The prayer is about being thankful for our similarities ("We all live on Earth, We all need water, We are all mammals...") and for our differences ("We don't all like the same food, We all have different fingerprints, We do not all like homework...").  I couldn't help but laugh at the sweet naivety of children, and I think their prayer says it all.  We are thankful for the ways in which we are similar, and we are thankful for the ways in which we are different.

Our family's Thanksgiving is quite different than last year!  Ady, barely two weeks old last year, slept through the Turkey Trot 5K and the entire dinner party.  Now she is a mobile and curious toddler, sampling a little bit of every dish at the potluck and making people laugh with her waves and smiles.  I am thankful for having a healthy, vibrant, inquisitive one-year-old.  I am thankful for our wonderful group of friends with whom we celebrate this holiday, our 7th holiday season in Santa Fe, when we are all far away from family.  And as I am in the midst of organizing a volunteer night at the homeless shelter for my work department, I am thankful that we have food to eat and shelter, not just in the physical sense but psychological as well, that we know we are safe, that we have a place to call our own.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!