Thanksgiving
Not pumpkin nor turkey; it is thanksgiving, dude! The Puritan's celebration was one ofgratitude. What was ritualized was theaffirmation of life, one's own and the neighbors, of bountiful harvest, weatheringnature's harshness, and asserting the general trustworthiness ofexistence.
The ritual is religious. When a community establishes a practice that solidifies into a traditiongoing beyond the limits of a generation, it becomes a reflexive act that invitessubsequent generations to act out the prescribe moves before asking thequestion of "what for", or "why". The doing does not require a consciousknowing. Thus, we have the turkey and the pumpkin without requiring anexplication of meaning.
Jiu Yi Ba, an October18 historical ritual is observed here in Dong Bei. On that day, at 9:00 a.m., sirens in Shenyangblares for five minutes to remind everyone what a duplicitous race the Japaneseare after what they did in 1931. On thisday, the Made in Japan railroad station in Mukden (Shenyang's previous name) wasmysteriously attacked, giving militaristic Japan the excuse to take over theregion. A ritual of hate is in place.
China does not have a xiexie day save today's commercial Thanksgiving, a shopping recycling of leftoverorders from western markets. Oh, thehype is there, but the sense of gratitude is missing. "Thank You" and "I amsorry" are not phrases of social grace in casual discourse. When uttered, they merely maintain one's face(mianzi), and retain good relations (guanxi) to those perceived to be one'ssuperior.
In my experience, "I am sorry" precedes theapology for "having poor English", preempting any possible comments onlanguage usage, somewhat akin to the lady of the house who prepares a sumptuousmeal and begins by saying, "I am sorry, we do not have enoughfood!" The gesture protects onefrom untoward remarks!
Like everything else in life, the external situation neverdetermines one's internal stance. Gratitude is an existential resolve decided in spite of the delight andmisery of normal life. In an old bookfrom the Levant, it was the wail on whether one can sing the songs of Zion"by the rivers of Babylon" that the prophets responded to with a resounding"Yes".
Spirit warriors at the beginning of the current era squeezedthe juice out of an ignominious crucifixion to declare that death holds nodominion! We've messed up variousaspects of that central message through the years, but our use of the Gregoriancalendar bears witness to the tenacity of that singular demonstration of graciousgratitude carried from the story of the baby in the manger to the hills ofGolgotha! That life still elicits loud Hosannas in many quarters!
Yolanda (Haiyan ofthe international winds) tested our resolve big time in our personal response todisaster. Some friends noted the absenceof a "bleeding heart" tone in our literary reflections, even as bodybags left untended raised accusations of neglect and incompetence, general andspecific. I used the word "disconnect"as my term away from the traditional but emotive relief and aid methods ofresponding to the effects of Mother Nature's belching.
I lived in the Piedmont in the late 70s when tobaccocompanies tried to dissuade the medical community and the public from thenotion that there is a link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer. I find the same attitude when connection ismade by activists from increased incidences of strong quakes and fierce winds (typhoonsand tornadoes) to climate change. Society'sdata bank of knowledge latches on to measures of objectivity from thepositivist school of thought of a previous century that demands irrefutableconnections, discards the wisdom of intuition, and ignores the lessons ofexperience.
Earthquakes used to happen in Manchuria once every fiftyyears. We've had six in the last threeyears. Climate change is not indispute. Whether humans' use of fossilfuel contributing to it is. It finallydoes not matter. It is the internalresolve that counts.
Indeed, how can one sing the songs of Zion from the riversof Babylon? An older tall boy in my 6thgrade class at SVES, transferred mid-year from an outer island, glared down onme one day after being called for disturbing others in class, and said,"Consider yourself lucky that you are a teacher." He had a look on his face that showed anunmistakable threat with sinister delight. Echoes of that resonate in the murder of 24-year old teacher Colleen Ritzerby her 14-year old student Phillip Chism.
We open and close our spoken English class with apedagogical hear-repeat ritual: "Thisis the day we have. We can live thisday, or throw it away. This is the daywe have." Students forcefully "loudout" the lines with gusto! Itappears that the Pea Eye boxer Pacman (Congressman Pacquiao) over the weekendminded his punch in Macau as well. Samar-Leyte got a lift on the thankful spirit on this one.
The preschool ritual out of Chicago's Westside where theabove came from ends with a declarative: "So let us live!" I do the same under my breath with grace andgratitude. Then I go one-step furtherwith the folks at Hanukkah - rededicate my covenant with life!
So, to the turkey, thanks!
