USA: Thanksgiving, 2023!

Thanksgiving holiday is tomorrow, Thursday, November 23. 2023!

Contrary to much current and historical legend, myth, opinion, thinking and viewpoint, “thanksgiving” is considered by many people as an exclusive American occasion – one focused solely on food, the American version of the game of football and the act of winter holiday shopping! Whew! After writing that elongated sentence, I need to remember to breathe!

First and foremost, it is most definitely not an exclusive USA American observance. In Canada, they also celebrate thanksgiving, the difference being their event happens in October instead of November. Also, the frantic obsession with winter holiday shopping and the American version of the game of football isn’t quite as addictive. Certainly other countries, cultures and religions dates and reasons to be thankful that aren’t as compulsive or as maddening.

Secondly – only by a slight margin – the event is offensive to the indigenous (native) peoples it is supposed to honour. After they helped the colonial immigrants avoid starvation, the very same people they saved infected them with disease, killed and robbed them of their land and then restricted where they could actually live. They were also denied the ability to participate in the emerging government and were subjected to segregation (separation) in schools and society. And, the list of offensives continued to expand, even up to this very day.

In the spirit of fairness, the majority of us understand that what happened in the past cannot be erased from our shared history. What is possible, though, are the taking of certain actions or measures in an effort to heal, or at the very least, attempt to heal some of the wrongs committed against certain cultures.

A bold and brave act.

For example, if the current governors of the original thirteen (13) colonies – now states – jointly initiated an official apology to the descendants of the Indigenous Peoples (Native Americans) for all the injustices and wrongs suffered by throughout history, a decisive step forward – an historical and monumental step forward – will have been made. We always encourage the “taking of responsibility” for mistakes. This massive gesture would be one that every nation and culture could never, ever ignore.

Plus, it could possible initiate the building of a bridge of trust between two distinct cultures that never completely existed before.

In reality, it will absolutely not erase the past. Hopefully, it will create a precedent to be followed in the future!

Naked hugs!

Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride

Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, November 27, 2023, and the proposed topic is: “Bare Alert!”