Thanksgiving

The American habit of naming days as memorials and party themes belies it basic materialistic nature. As someone who practices daily thankfulness for human kindness and my own good fortune, whenever encountered, I seeThanksgiving Day as rather redundant. Some people need the pressure of a public holiday to stop and think about the quality of their lives.

Photo by Peter Petraitis

If you believe that your good fortune is due to a supernatural being, your thankfulness is inevitably combined with a sense of spiritual superiority. Your deity has blessed you above others because you must be better. If you believe your good fortune in life is due to your aggressive material work, you hardly have anyone to thank other than yourself. If you believe that your fortune in life is due to good luck, then you are thankful that you are lucky. If you have inherited a comfortable life from your family, then your family would be the focus of your gratitude.

By staying in the moment, it becomes easy to understand good fortune for what it is: Well-being, mindfulness, compassion. Without well-being of mind and body, there is little happiness. Without mindfulness, there is no way to happiness. Without compassion, there is no point to happiness. Thanksgiving is a way of sharing good fortune. It is an exchange.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day, I offer my appreciation and encouragement to all of you who are developing your own daily practice for the greater good. Thank you for your companionship on the way. Together, we can make a significant contribution to universal peace and justice.