Left, Right & Center: Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It has my three favorites — family, food and football! I loved the tradition of attending the Thanksgiving Day football game (full disclosure: I was a Wildcat from Milton, not a Canton Bulldog) — attending as a spectator when I was young, participating in the halftime show with the marching band when I was in high school, and reuniting at the game with high school friends during college years. I loved returning after the game to a warm house with the delicious smells of Thanksgiving dinner already filling the air. I grew to appreciate the holiday more as I grew older because there were no gifts involved and no stress — just time spent with family (and still good food and football!).

Christine Smith

Of course, as I grew older I came to also understand that the Thanksgiving story we were taught in school as young children was not exactly accurate (to put it mildly). The Native Americans who had lived on this land for thousands of years were not happy to have the colonists arrive to steal their land, bring disease to their shores, erase their culture and massacre them. True, there was a treaty between the Wampanoag Chief Massasoit and Plymouth governor John Carver in 1621, which had to do more with mutual defense against other tribes than true friendship. And it is true that after the autumn harvest there was a dinner that some of the Wampanoag attended. However, the treaty would remain in effect only until King Philip’s War in 1675, which devastated the Wampanoags. As a result, for Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not a day of giving thanks. Indeed, for the past 50 years Native Americans have taken part in a National Day of Mourning in Plymouth.

Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until declared by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in an effort to unite the country. Thereafter, the idyllic original Thanksgiving story was used by many to perpetuate the idea that the colonists were friendly with the Native Americans, to erase the violent history and to prop up an idea of white Anglo-Saxon superiority. The story stuck and that is what most of us were taught in school. (For the complete story, which cannot fit into this column, I recommend This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, by David Silverman, history professor at George Washington University.)

How then was I to reconcile my love of a holiday that was based not only on a myth but that was wrapped up in racism and the violence perpetuated against Native Americans? Ultimately, I found that I like the idea of a day set aside for giving thanks unrelated to the myth we were taught. And I recognize that I am privileged to be able to choose to think of Thanksgiving in this manner.

All too often we rush through our days and focus on the bad things and the disappointments. Although I try to remember to practice gratitude daily, I am not always successful. Taking time for giving thanks is important, especially with so much turmoil going on around us. There is so much for which I have to be thankful even in this horrible pandemic year. I have a job, a safe community, a roof over my head, food to eat, clothes to wear, friends, family and good health. So many people are not so lucky.

Giving thanks can also mean giving back. There are many opportunities to give back, but I offer two charities close to my heart as suggestions. The first is Gifts for Kids. Since 1990 Gifts for Kids and their volunteers have been providing holiday gifts for children in need throughout Norfolk County. Normally volunteers adopt a child and purchase gifts off a wish list, but this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, they are seeking cash donations only, which will be turned into gift cards for the children. Donation details are available at www.GiftsforKidsMA.org. My second favorite is our own Canton Food Pantry, which serves Canton residents in need. You can donate online at www.town.canton.ma.us/193/Canton-Food-Pantry. Consider making a recurring monthly donation if you are able as there is need year-round.

I will celebrate a different Thanksgiving this year — just immediate family who live with me and a Zoom with everyone else. I am thankful for my ability to do that. Let’s be thankful Canton for what we have and, if we are lucky, for the opportunity to share what we have with those who have less. Instead of Thanksgiving, let’s celebrate a Day of Giving Thanks.

Christine Smith is a mother of three, an attorney and longtime Canton resident.

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Posted by Christine Smith on Nov 25 2020. Filed under Featured Content, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.