TD Sounds Off: What Are You Thankful For?
“I’m grateful to be home for the holidays.” said Emma Gleason.
“I’m grateful for the usual stuff and to spend time with family,” said Oscar Sedano.
“I’m grateful for having a job at the moment, especially for having a job at a grocery store and helping to feed other families. That feels great.” Peter Bautista.
Happy Thankfulness Day!
This year we are celebrating Friendsgiving by asking local people in The Dalles what they are grateful for.
Here’s what they had to say:
“I’m thankful for my family that I was blessed with and for my beautiful grandson, he’s my heart,” said Mary Flores. “He’s waiting for me to get home. Both his parents have to work so I grabbed a couple of legs and I’m going to stuff them, and make a nice salad. I got pie.”
“Family.”
“Yeah, family.”
“I’m grateful for my family.”
“I’m grateful I get to spend the next few days with family.”
“A healthy family.”
“My family.”
“I’m grateful for another day living, really, with covid you know? I mean Thank God all my kids are doing okay,” said Olga Grisham
“We’re both working. We’ve got jobs,” said Ron Grisham “We’ve got a lot to be grateful for. It’s going to be a Happy Thanksgiving.”
“I’m grateful for my kids. I’ve got a newborn with me. She’s only a week and a half old. And I have an almost one year old. So my hands are full but I’m very thankful for them.”
“I’m grateful to have a home to spend the holidays in.”
“I’m grateful to have a roof over my head.”
“I’m thankful for everyone’s life. You know I care about everybody. I’m Mathew, man of God. I have nowhere to be. I was married but my own brother took my wife while I was in the hospital with mercury poisoning for two and a half months. Mercury is very scary. I have seizures so I’m in the hospital all the time,” said Mathew, “But I care about everyone.”
“I’m grateful for life, just life in general. And knowing that we’ve got God on our side. That’s all we need.”
“I’m grateful to be alive.”
“Life.”
“Yeah, just being alive I guess.”
“Life in general.”
“Having a job. That’s the biggest one right now. You never know what’s going to happen in this country right now,” said Nathan Bruce.
“Yeah, having a job,” said Doni Van Dola.
“I’m grateful to not have cancer.”
“Do you want me to bawl? I’m grateful for my mother who’s in her late 80’s and still healthy. And I’m grateful that there’s good things going on, even though it’s hard to see them sometimes.”
“I’m grateful to get to eat with family.”
“I guess we’re grateful to be able to have dinner with family.”
What are you thankful for?
Share in the gratitude by sending us your name, your photo and answer to the question: What are you thankful for? by emailing us at cole@columbiacommunityconnection.com.
A Brief History of Thanksgiving
While the history of the Thanksgiving holiday has been romanticized by colonial perspectives over the years as a time of gratitude and togetherness shared between the early Puritans and Wampanoag peoples. In 1621 the Wampanoag people helped the Puritans to survive by teaching them how to plant crops and forage for wild foods. However the first official mention of Thanksgiving in American history is that of a spontaneous celebration following the massacre of an entire indigenous Pequot village in 1637. Supposedly the Wampanoag were not invited to the celebration, but showed up with foods to share anyway.
Years later in 1789, President George Washington tried to make “Thanksgiving” an official holiday that had nothing to do with the original narrative of Indians vs Settlers but instead as a public holiday of “thanksgiving and prayer.” However Thanksgiving did not become an official holiday until 1863 when Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded President Lincoln that celebrating the holiday could help heal the divided nation.
From 1890-1920 nationalism began to increase with the Industrial Revolution and colonial identity became inexorable from what it meant to be a “true American”. In an attempt to teach true American values to immigrants and school children a sanitized version of the 1637 Thanksgiving history was circulated and set the tone for the next 200 years. The sanitized history, the lie of Pilgrims and Natives dining together to give thanks was then taught in schools, including Native American schools across the nation for decades to come.
Today many people, especially Native American people are finding new ways to celebrate this holiday in a way that does not ignore the true history of the day and makes space for creating new traditions based on modern values. Many choose to celebrate “Indigenous People’s Day” “Friendsgiving” “Gratitude Day” “Thankfulness Day” and/or “Turkey Day” instead of “Thanksgiving”. These new traditions do not center around celebrating past violence, but rather celebrating abundance, future collaboration and togetherness. Many modern celebrations involve spending time with family, eating a meal of indigenous foods together (turkey, beans, corn, pumpkins), celebrating the late fall harvest, and expressing gratitude.
Happy Thankfulness Day! Here’s to being grateful for all we have, recognizing the abundance in our lives and finding ways forward together.
