Today is Thanksgiving. It
is a secular holiday, but nevertheless, sacred for most Americans.
Many of us are writing,
posting memes, outwardly expressing the things that we are thankful for. That
is nice. It is conscientious, appropriate.
A heartfelt expression of
gratitude is always welcome, even gratitude expressed in general for the many
things we receive from those we love, by whom we are loved, that make our lives
more comfortable, more challenging, and more meaningful. It is never
inappropriate to thankful.
To express gratitude is
to, is to make one’s self humble; it is to acknowledge our reliance on others
for making us who we are.
In theology there is
something known as the apophatic
tradition. In this tradition it is understood that God (the creator of all that
is, and all who are) that God dwells in a place beyond human understanding. God
is shrouded in mystery, in the great cloud of un-knowing.
According to the apophatic tradition, no one can speak
affirmatively as to what, or who God is, because God, the eternal and infinite God;
God will not be circumscribed by language. There can be no positive assertions
about the nature of the Divine, there is only the via negativa; the way of saying what God is not.
Following this tradition,
I will forgo the giving of thanks, even though I am truly grateful for friends
and compatriots, everyone in my life, for all of those who inspire me, and or
endlessly patient with me. I will be selfish and tell you all what I am not thankful
for.
I am not thankful that
there is no peace in the world,
In Syria, from where millions
of people are fleeing their homes, starving, being shelled day and night.
In Palestine, where there
is apartheid, where millions of people are jailed behind walls in their homes.
In America, where we are
divided by class, culture, color.
I am not thankful for white
supremacy, and domestic terrorism, I am not thankful for terrorism anywhere. I
am not thankful for the religious fundamentalism that drives it. I am thankful
neither for the fear that spawns it, nor for the fear it generates
I am not thankful that
there is hunger in our bountiful world. I am not thankful for the greed, for
the sloth, and the bad public policies that foster it.
I am not thankful for
willful ignorance, for anti-rational, anti-intellectual, demagoguery. I am not
thankful for the cultural relativism that has promoted it, for anti-objectivism,
for liars. I am not thankful for Donald Trump. I am not thankful for my fellow Americans
who voted for him. I am not thankful for anyone seeking a job in his
administration, seeking to legitimize him in any way.
I am not thankful for the
media outlets, the reporters, the editorialists who failed to take him
seriously. I am not thankful that they abdicated their responsibilities.
I am not thankful that ninety-million
people did not vote.
I am not thankful that
the things I have listed so far, the things that I am not thankful for did not
change from last year at all.
I am not thankful that
there is so much more to add.
I am not thankful that
environmental crisis developing in North Dakota, the harm being done to
protesters, the abrogation of Treaty Rights and the lands of a sovereign nation.
I am not thankful for the militarized police response taken against Americans.
I am not thankful for the
continuing water crises in Flint Michigan.
I am not thankful for the
shortsightedness of liberals and progressives who cannot stand united in the
face of social forces that threaten us all.
Did I say that I am not
thankful for white supremacists? I did, but let me say it again…I am not
thankful for them or their apologists, their soft supports or their ardent
advocates. I am not thankful that they have a seat at the table in the
administration of a future President Trump.
I am not thankful for
them.
They suck.
