Our calendars tell us we are in the 'traditional' holiday season (which some of us think includes Halloween, except it doesn't) and today's words are in a way my part of that tradition as I've offered them in years past.
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 and all the Fixin's on tap for tomorrow.
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 actually an act of generosity and kindness by those already from here shared with those who were recent arrivals and who had very little.
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.
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 accomplishment of the 'things we forgot to get for the feast' shopping expedition. Taking care of the little things counts in life and most especially for 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.
I see people with handmade signs at the entrances of our shopping areas and at highway intersections and we all pass at least a half-dozen collection points every day where donations for those whom we call 'the less fortunate' are being assembled. They need our help but they are not 'the 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. Our times may be better but that's not the case for a lot of other people. If you thought the last decade was challenging in terms of prosperity, try being a family that didn't have much to start with when things went sideways.
Again this time of year, and more so now than in previous years, 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 not just for the holidays and how many new food pantry customers they have. 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.
Tomorrow, 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
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