Post Blog refresh – I updated this post to align with the new THEME
I wanted to respond to this why not “Thanksgiving? here for better context
Well since you asked – here are some beginning thoughts. I don’t support the eradication of any indigenous culture under the pretext of Christian identifying imperialists, colonialists, or power paradigms. This stems back to when I was about 6/7/8 years old as I first learned about the pilgrims. It didn’t align with events shared in texts outside of the secular textbooks – origin stories of 1715 and 1620-ish weren’t aligning.
Some direct life examples for context.
An Example from 1992
In 1992 I listened to my native American (indigenous) roommate (Franco A.) tell stories of his questionable and often horrible treatment while he attended the Intermountain Indian school (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermountain_Indian_School) in Brigham City. As Franco recounted numerous examples I recalled the findings of indigenous stories not aligning with textbook information presented through my formative years.
An Example from 1994/5/6
Again in 1995/6 as I learned about my Morrocan, Algerian, Lebanese and Persian friends and the reparations from France and seeing its affects – A great book to read is called Le Gone du Chaâba by Azouz Begag (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Gone_du_Chaaba) that further demonstrated the difficulties of ‘les beurres’ as I walked the streets of Mantes Le Jolie, Sarcelles, Garges le Gonesse to St. Denis – where the world cup conveniently necessitated a stadium to be built and displaced many folks back to Marseilles and more.
An Example from 2009
Then again living in Virginia (2009) and working with African Americans that still encountered racism that was supposedly expunged – but is it? We lived in Prince Edward and Cumberland counties – I walked where Dr Martin Luther King did and even got to restore one of the churches he frequented during his marches.
Contextual thoughts
It’s fair to say looking back, I have always dug into events/facts/truths differently than what folks may term normal. I used to be afraid and even hateful of two powerful feelings I now lean into daily – empathy and gratitude. This was because of the long string of hypocrisy that often-surrounded stories of prescriptive historical narratives – not to mention my frustrations in being dyslexic. I was continually provided textbooks that left me without options to read. As a dyslexic, the specific text sizes in textbooks made it near impossible to read or understand because of my disability. I never once leveraged it (dyslexia) as such, rather I adapted and created options where none seemed to exist. I found alternatives and began to listen to audio formats (as young as 8/9 years old) – and strangely enough, information in this format didn’t seem to align with the textbook delivered story.
Yes, life is full of complexity – often filled with misused justifications and over simplified perceptions. I’d rather folks just be like the Bradley Cooper character in the Hangover – ‘um we f’d up’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7aBY2sqbEI ) … I’ve been on too many truth adventures and seem to always land continually at the harsh reality — there are few absolutes outside of all who live will encounter death. When something prescriptively asserts to me that I MUST be grateful, because of an event or collections of stories with a curated narrative – to the point to allow or promote people to feel comfortable in their justifications, it’s time for me to pioneer a better path. I refer to this as my journey of reasonable self-scrutiny. I prefer to collect from the buffet of knowledge and truths and events and so much more!
This intersects with another thought I shared in my FB streams earlier too –
Link to source: Writing History: An Introductory Guide to How History Is Produced from the American Historical Association
I found this an interesting source as we come to gather around the board as it were this turkey day. History, fact/Fiction/opinion, and budgeting appropriately for the next yule, saturnalias, Krampus, Christmas/Hannukah celebrations.
I tend to subscribe to the buffet of knowledge, choosing to acquire the best parts and creating a symphony of truth instead of a singular, prescriptive, orthodoxical and most likely hyper focused approach – see below quote for context:
“Instead of endlessly debating about which worldview reigns supreme, I choose to take elements I admire in both traditions while constructing a philosophy about how to live and demonstrate two heads are better than one. “
— Ryan Holiday
So for me – Why not Thanksgiving?
So, if you sincerely and authentically were interested and read through to get here and not seek a bullet point or TLDR approach, then the above highlights context of why I struggle with the term centered around the event called to Thanksgiving. I hope this gives you some insight and responds to your question.
Lastly, If you recall in California where Liz and I were fortunate to see you and your now spouse and life partner, after our wonderful flight from DC to Philly with you as pilot – that was a big ask for me and I put a lot of trust into accepting that wonderful gift from you and your soon to be wife. I shared of my interest in the NSA and explained I had a hot opportunity I was interested in, but after doing my due diligence – even then an opportunity in information curation and trafficking didn’t fit me. So, Liz and I pivoted and years later here we are.
So now, I prefer to focus on gratitude, daily and not focus just on a singular day tied to many questionably portrayed events – aka Thanksgiving. I also choose to celebrate and respect all indigenous origin stories (already surfaced or otherwise) and seek to respect lessons learned. For that and for many more things, I am empathetic to the oft underrepresented and voiceless ones in history. I also believe courage of value is birthed in empathy, I will keep chasing my journey of reasonable self-scrutiny and keep trying to get better for me and my circles of influence. Hope this helps.
“It is a lifelong quest for more knowledge, more courage, more humility, and more belief. Because when you summon the strength and discipline to live like that, the only thing limiting your horizons is you.”
— David Goggins – – Never Finished
