Giving Thanks

We're heading towards the 'traditional' holiday season and today's words are, sort of, part of that as I've offered them in years past as the calendar rounds the clubhouse turn. 

I'm writing in short sentences since you probably have a lot to do today and not a whole lot of time to do it all in, what with Thanksgiving knocking on the door and all.

For those of us not planning to pick up or drop off someone at an airport who's flown in/flying out to be part of the Thanksgiving holiday, there's the organization of the shopping list as we ready for the annual trek to the grocer for the 'things we forgot to get for the feast' shopping expedition. Taking care of the little things counts in life and most especially in holiday dinners.

My First World Problem is always about cranberries, jellied or berries? Yeah, I lead a hard life. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. While I'm standing struggling with what is truly a trivial concern, I'm somehow not seeing those around me who would trade my troubles for theirs in less time than it takes to read this sentence.

This is the time of year we celebrate our good fortune, in a vaguely historical homage to the Pilgrim's Progress that we can't quite explain. That's probably because we get it wrong. The First Thanksgiving was really an act of generosity by those from here who had with those who were recent arrivals and who did not.

We think of The Pilgrims when we think about Thanksgiving but it's the Native Americans who sustained them and helped those ill-equipped settlers adapt and overcome whom we should be honoring and emulating. 

We've all passed by at least a half-dozen collection points every day where donations for those whom we call 'the less fortunate' are being assembled. Except, people who need our help are not less fortunate-they are our neighbors and in some instances, our family and friends.

I don't care what the news says about the Dow Jones Industrial Average. No one I know can eat the NASDAQ, whatever that is, so don't get fooled. Your times may be better but that's not the case for a lot of other people. If you thought the last ten or so years have been hard with recession and depression, try being a family that didn't have much to start with when things went sideways.

This time of year, and more so now than last year and way more than the year before that, agencies and organizations that work with the invisible indigent we have chosen not to see are nearly overwhelmed by the requests for help.

Ask the St. Vincent de Paul Place about how many (more) hot meals they're preparing for the holidays and how many new food pantry customers they have. And if you buy a few more canned goods and goodies than you'll use next Thursday, swing by the Norwich Family Dental Associates on Lafayette Street this Saturday and donate to their food drive. 

And if recent years are any indicator, this is when the Connecticut Food Bank receives the largest number of donations, to include yours, which is all well and good assuming hunger is a holiday thing, except it's not.

This Thanksgiving when you're with friends and family enjoying the food and festivities after the feasting please go online and find an agency someplace doing good and donate so they can do better.

How much should you give? Until it helps.
-bill kenny