Like so many traditional holidays, Thanksgiving has a dark origin story — Colonialism.  Slavery.  Epidemics.  

These are all important issues to consider as we work to build a socially just, kind world.

Gratitude is equally important. 

I reflect on both sides of the holiday this week.

But I cannot let the dark history over-shadow that gratitude.  

Over the years I’ve come to learn that gratitude is an antidote to darkness.  —  To avarice, depression, anxiety, fear, prejudice….nearly all the black spots on the human soul that lead to an unhappy existence, to the horrors of history, the horrors of our time, the horrors of the future.

Gratitude lets us draw a peaceful breath.  It lets us find joy, and reminds us that, no matter what is taken away, there is beauty left to nurture.  It challenges us to identify it.  It renews our repository of hope, which gets us up another day and sends us back out into the world to try again: to work for peace, to heal the sick, to help the waters run clear, the air turn fresh, and the soil to grow fertile, to help our fellow humans celebrate this earth and each other. 

I am so sorry for the darkness that led to this holiday.

But I am so thankful for this annual rite that closes the growing season and fills my heart with light as the days grow short.

I wish each and every one of you heaping platefuls of gratitude this week, enough to bring you through the winter.

And while I’m at it, I’ll start enjoying my own hearty serving, giving thanks for my family, my friends, my place in this world, this land, and each and every one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving.