Grateful to be Alive

Thanksgiving

This is a big holiday in the United States. It had never been my favorite. The staples are glutinous action and binging American football. Oh, and we pretend that we did not euthanize the native Americans. These are not things I hold close to my heart. Give me Halloween and Christmas all day long, but I can leave Thanksgiving at the dinner table.

When the Puritans and the first white people landed in the American nation we had basically no plan. I say “we” here because I am German/Hungarian and therefore caucasian, but I do not adhere to any of the Puritan doctrines. (Idealistic Christian beliefs that included spreading hate and fear of those who who ar not white and heterosexual.)

The first white people in the Americas were lost and afraid. They probably ate corn and some deer with the Native Americans in a desperate attempt to stay alive. This has evolved into a gluttonous feast around pumpkin pie, sugared cranberry, and Turkey. I mean, Turkey is a superfood so I am totally on board with that part, regardless of the historical inaccuracy.

In fact, we had such a poor plan that the first white British colony resorted to cannibalism just to survive. and then there is the fact that we wiped most of the Native Americans off the face of the earth. Not no real reason to celebrate in my book. In spite of all of this, I am still happy and I am still grateful.

If you disagree you should listen to this masterpiece by Avery Trufelman

I am Grateful because IT IS THE WAY

Thankfulness is a buzzword. Let’s just call it what it is. At this point, it is a painful offshoot of the frenzy of consumism by the most successful capitalist society of all time. But the US needs to watch out because China is closing in on us for such a prize.

That is not what I mean in this post. I am talking about being grateful for the benefits of gratitude. Now there is plenty of research on how this act of being thankful decreases the stress hormone cortisol, and I am an avid listener of the 10% Happier Podcast, but I am going to fall back on Headspace in my content curation here because Headspace is the BOMB.com. If you are not using Headspace then where have you been!? You need to get on that, BOSS!

What is one thing you are thankful for today!? Be mindful of being thankful for what is good. The delight will overwhelm you and the fact that we have systematically disenfranchised the women and people of colour in this world will start to matter less. Or at least, they will not overwhelm you with guilt as they tend to do for me on this dreadful holiday of denial of history.

Move Forward

I got dark here. I got a bit too real for some. If this is too real you need to grow a pair (testicles or ovaries, however, you identify.) If you live a life of privilege you need to own that shit and live up to it. You need to capitalize on that shit so that you can empower those who have been disenfranchised by the very systems that empower you.