Thanksgiving 2015: Share Your Appreciation Day

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength. Thanks to the teachings of Buddha, I have been able to take this second way.

-- Dalai Lama

What are you thankful for?  Oh, let's get past the bullshit we know everyone wants to hear.  What are you, unselfishly and truly, thankful for? I'm thankful my family has their health.  I'm so thankful my kids and grandkids are healthy and doing well for themselves.  I'm thankful to still have my father to be an occasional 85 year old pain in my ass.  I know it's only because he loves me.  I'm thankful I still have my mom to worry over me, which she makes a point of doing at every turn, God bless her.  I am thankful my family has their health.  I am thankful I have been there when people have needed me, and I am thankful to have known my wife.

Selfishly, we tend to be thankful for our lifestyle, our loves, and the food on the table.  Our real thanks should go to those which make life worth living - those around us; family, friends, and those we don't yet know.  The checker at the supermarket, the guy dumping your trash, the bag lady standing on the corner or sleeping under the overpass, all of these add color to the canvas of our lives.  

We tend to focus on the pretty flowers, in God's painting, and ignore the background which give it meaning; the backstory that makes the subject pop out at us.  What is the point of interest in the photo, above?  Is it the beggar or the multitude too busy with their own selfishness to pay the poor more than a cursory glance?  Is it the drabness of the poor clothing and blanket in contrast to the surroundings and the reds and blues of the passerby, or is it the guilt we feel by just looking at it?  

Guilt is a strong emotion which, though denial, drives the selfishness in most of us.  We look at the poor that inhabit our streets and think to ourselves, "Not my circus, not my monkey," when we know full well it is our circus and we are the clowns running it.  These poor exist because we allow it, we nurture it, and then we ignore or ridicule it.  It is a sad cycle of sociological sado-masochism we cannot seem to break.

So, what am I thankful for, selfishly?  I'm thankful I'm not the beggar.  I'm thankful I was given an upbringing which instilled in me the strength to carry on in the face of adversity; the strength to carry on when all seems lost.  I'm thankful for loving friends that have helped me when I have fallen.  I am thankful for those that serve to keep us safe so we may continue to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  I am thankful for my God and my faith in something greater than myself.  

I am selfishly thankful to be allowed another chance, each morning, to excel at whatever task, or challenge, God throws my way.

Take this season to reflect on what you are truly thankful for, and then think about those that don't have a pot to piss in.  Think about those that own nothing of any value to be selfish about.  I have seen the poorest of the poor, on the street, take the offering of a stranger and share it with their lot; an act, the mere idea of which, for all we have, would escape many of us.  Maybe it is time we consider sharing half our sandwich.  Maybe it's time to squat down and take the beggar by the hand, look them in the eye and tell them you see them, they are not invisible to you; they do not disappear into the background of the life God painted for you.

This season just don't say thank you for your service to those that risk their all to keep us safe and secure.  And thank more than just our military members.  Thank also the police, the firemen, and all those first responders who risk their lives when called.  This season, learn to shake their hand and give them a hug.  God knows they deserve it, and they deserve to hear it before they die in service to us.

This season, if you are thankful for someone, let them know it by telling them and explaining why?  Your reason will mean so much more than just the thanks for a job well done, and you might learn more about yourself for the effort.

“We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move. 

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want. 

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable. 

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.”

-- Lao Tzu

This season learn to recognize that, sometimes, it is what you don't have that makes life worth living.  Sometimes it is what we don't see that is our true blessing, what we don't hear that has the greatest meaning.  Sometimes, what we do with the empty space inside will make our lives, and the lives of those around us, worth living.  Maybe we should spend more time focusing on this empty space inside.

I wish for all of my readers, the happiest of the Thanksgiving season.  God bless all of us, and God bless these United States!

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."