Today is Thanksgiving, a secular holiday; nevertheless, Thanksgiving is sacred to most Americans.
Many
of us write reflections on this day, posting memes that express to the world
the things we are thankful for, and that is nice, conscientious, appropriate.
We have much to be thankful for as Americans, and we should never forget it.
A
heartfelt expression of gratitude is always welcome, even the gratitude that is
expressed in general for the many things we receive from those we love, by whom
we are loved, for the things we are given that make our lives more comfortable,
more challenging and more meaningful.
It
is never inappropriate to thankful.
To
express gratitude is to make one’s self humble; it is to acknowledge our
reliance on others for making us into the people we have become.
Thanksgiving
is a day for humility; therefore, be gracious. Be thankful…insofar as you are
able, in-so-doing you will be following the
way of the wise.
In
theology there is something known as the apophatic
tradition. In this tradition it is understood that God, by whatever name you
call the creator the universe (of all that is and all we are), that God dwells
in a mode of being that is beyond human understanding.
The
apophatic tradition tells us that God is shrouded in mystery, a state of
being that mystics describe as the cloud
of un-knowing.
According
to the apophatic tradition, we are
not able speak in the affirmative about what or who God is, because God, the eternal
and infinite, God will not be circumscribed by the finite constructs of human
thought and language.
We
are not able to posit meaningful assertions about the nature of the Divine;
what we are left with is the via negative,
the way of understanding who God is by stating what God is not.
In
keeping with the via negativa, I am
in the custom of forgoing the traditional giving-of-thanks, even though I am
truly grateful for my friends and compatriots, I am grateful for everyone in my
life, grateful for all of those who inspire me, who love me and who are patient
with me every single day.
I
am grateful for you.
For
thanksgiving I follow the via negative, the
negative way, and express what I am
not thankful for.
I
am not thankful for the coronavirus and COVID-19.
I
am not thankful that 260,000 Americans have died from this virus, with
thousands more dying everyday.
I
am not thankful that there are more than 20,000,000 million Americans out of
work do to safety measures we have had to take in order to fight this pandemic.
I
am not thankful that tens of millions of Americans refuse to participate in
those safety measures, that they do not care for the lives and safety of their
neighbors, or their families or even themselves enough to wear a mask, and keep
distant from one another.
I
am not thankful that the track record of the United States is the worst in the
world for dealing with this crises, that with four percent of the population we
have twenty percent of the deaths.
I
am not thankful that Donald Trump lies about these facts and figures as a means
of trying to avoid responsibility for his dismal failures.
I
am not thankful for the food lines that stretch for miles in some communities
this holiday season so that families can have something to put on the table to
celebrate the good things in their lives.
I
am not thankful that the economic relief which the entire country is in
desperate need of receiving is being held up by the political machinations of
Mitch McConnell the senate majority leader and his caucus of heartless,
short-sighted republicans.
I
am not thankful that in the Fake President, Donald Trump, continues to divide
us by class, culture, color, and is desperately trying to overturn the results
of the election he just lost by 7,000,000 votes, and counting
I
am not thankful for their collective failure of Congress to protect the
constitution, or for the individual members who have forgotten their oath of
office.
I
am not thankful for our failures of leadership.
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 and the sloth and the bad public policy that fosters 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 his allies in congress or people anywhere
who continue to support him.
I
am not thankful for the media outlets, the reporters, the editorialists who
failed and continue to fail to take the threat Donald Trump represent to our
Democracy seriously. I am not thankful that they abdicated their
responsibilities as the gatekeepers of society, as the so called 4th Estate, allowing his
corrupt and criminal regime to cause so much harm to ordinary people.
I
am not thankful for his corruption of the rule of law.
I
am not thankful for our government’s continuous assault on our population of
immigrants and refugees, for the way we have abdicated our responsibility to
care for the asylum seeker.
I
am not thankful for these things.
I
am not thankful that there is so much more to add to this list.
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, both their soft supporters
and their ardent advocates. I am not thankful that they have had a seat at the
table in the Trump administration, I am not thankful for the normalization of
that kind of hate in our society.
I
am not thankful for that.
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