Song of the day:
Video of the day:
Thankful
I hope you enjoyed time with friends, family, or even just yourself, over the last few days. It’s always nice to have a few days of downtime - or at least time away from work. Sometimes holidays and vacation days get filled so quickly that when they’re over you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation.
I’m thankful for so many things…family, friends, science, vaccines, my job, my house, my health, ASU beating U of A once again, and my faith in Jesus.
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving and have thought of it as a time to focus on being thankful and remember all the good in our lives. I’ve heard many say it’s their favorite holiday of the year. And being thankful is a good thing. Making and/or eating a giant meal - or the traditional chicken nachos - can be a lot of fun. Watching the Macy’s parade, football, and Hallmark Christmas movies are great ways to relax, and these have all become standards for Thanksgiving. I’m sure many of you participated in one or more of these activities last week. I know I did.
But this year Thanksgiving as a whole hit me differently. I thought about Native American friends and colleagues and what this season might feel like for them. I thought about how the history has been tainted, aka whitewashed, over the years in an attempt to make us forget that our ancestors stole the land on which we live and work.
Some Native Americans and many others take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public, and especially to schoolchildren. In their view, the traditional narrative paints a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. Since 1970, protesters have gathered on the day designated as Thanksgiving at the top of Cole’s Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, to commemorate a “National Day of Mourning.” Similar events are held in other parts of the country.
There are so many good things about Thanksgiving but as we celebrate we must also acknowledge the awful things that happened. We also need to remember that its origins are deeper than most people know or recognize. It seems like an American holiday but its roots are in the celebration of harvest, something that was done in this country long before the arrival of the pilgrims.
As an annual celebration of the harvest and its bounty, moreover, Thanksgiving falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia. In ancient times, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans feasted and paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. Thanksgiving also bears a resemblance to the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Finally, historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on America's shores.
All of that said…I’m thankful and had fun over the last few days - after recovering from some random cold/flu thing that hit me earlier in the week (NOT COVID). Here are a few images of the last few days. I’m also thankful for all of you. I hope you have a wonderful week!