Thanksgiving: Memories and Hope

When I was a child, Thanksgiving was indeed a day to be thankful. There was a local high school football game, Barringer vs. East Orange, at the time considered by the locals to be the oldest high school football rivalry in the nation. I also got two days off from school. That short week was a Godsend to a boy who would rather be outside playing then stuck in a classroom. The turkey and pumpkin pie were fabulous and then there was the parade, the best part of which was the last float. That float carried Santa Claus. Seeing Santa on Thanksgiving marked the unofficial opening of the Christmas season. Yes, Christmas and a Roy Rodgers two-gun set of six shooters were right around the corner.  

            It never occurred to me back then to be actually thankful for life’s blessings. I’m a baby boomer isn’t it all about me?

I was born in post war America when times were so good that even the poor had a better life to look forward to than most of the undeveloped world. Things were so good that it was possible to take what we had for granted; freedom, security, trust in our leaders.          

            And even though my parents lived paycheck to paycheck back then, I never had to worry about having a roof over my head. I never wanted for a hot meal, decent clothing or heat when the weather turned cold. As a child of course, it never crossed my mind that not even 20 years ago, men died horrific deaths on European battlefields and Pacific islands to preserve our freedoms. Men and women sacrificed years of their lives in their prime to fight a war we didn’t start but certainly finished.

As a child I never connected the dots: The turkey and pumpkin pie that sat so reliably on our kitchen table year after year were possible only because my father stood day after day, year after year, at a printing press. My mother skillfully and lovingly prepared the meal, following traditions which in turn, she passed onto us. And I add, without irony, that I was blessed to have the same mother and father at the table every year.  

None of this is to suggest that life was better back then. Certainly the traditions of Thanksgiving live on in our memories. Possibly made better than they actually were by our uniquely human ability to edit the moments that don’t fit with the Norman Rockwell images we prefer.     

The beauty of the day is that regardless of our circumstances, we have the chance to start new traditions, create future memories and above all give thanks for our countless blessings. Another thing I’m sure I never gave much thought to as a child was who we were actually thanking on Thanksgiving. There’s a lot to choose from, including parents, spouses, significant others, employers, farmers and of course, the NFL. But nothing would be possible without God. A simple prayer to the Good Lord, thanking Him for whatever we have is the entire point of the celebration. I realize some may disagree and have no wish to argue the point. What I do know is that every Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation, beginning with George Washington’s, makes clear reference to this very fact, pointedly thanking God.

We live in a world dramatically different than the one I grew up in. When you’ve lived long enough to know that American life today barely resembles the righteous America you grew up in, it’s natural to worry. But my Thanksgiving Day prayer will be thankful and it will be hopeful. Hopeful that our nation, reeling from decades of rapid change, will rebound and be once again a place where children can afford to take freedom, security and trust for granted.          

 

Copyright 2012, Len Serafino. All rights reserved.

 

Don’t Like the Election Results? Secede!

It’s been a week since the election. By now many, if not most of us, have settled down, relieved that campaign ads have given way to Christmas shopping commercials. But not everyone has come to terms with the election results. There are those who are so unhappy that the President has been reelected, that they are petitioning the US Government for the right to secede from the Union. According to the Huffington Post, citizens in 34 states have filed secession petitions. Any petition that receives 25,000 signatures within 30 days must be reviewed and responded to by the Obama Administration.    

            Most petitioners claim to be dissatisfied with the way the Federal Government spends our money and they are not happy about the way our rights are abridged by agencies such as the TSA. I can’t say that I blame them but I am a bit perplexed that they waited until after the election results were in to decide that secession was the best course of action. These problems go back to the Bush era. Of course secession requests do seem to follow Presidential elections. When Bush won and Kerry lost in 2004, there were petitions.

            What if no one objected and 30 or more states were gone? Would these states ultimately get together and form an even more perfect union? Or is it more likely that some states would band together and others, like Texas, would return to its lone star origins?

            Here is a list of the 34 states with citizens that thought it would be better to go it alone:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida,Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virgnia and Wyoming.,

            I guess the worst case scenario would be 34 separate countries. If I wanted to drive to New Jersey to visit family and friends, I would need a passport which I would have to show to the good people of the great nations of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I wonder what New Jersey would require of a visitor from another country? What if there were no treaties between Tennessee and New Jersey? What if there was a dispute and the President of Tennessee issued a travel warning about the former Garden State? On the other hand, a trip to Atlantic City would sound exotic. I mean gambling in a foreign land would be cool assuming the currency exchange rates were favorable. Would the Tennessee Moon Pie be the equivalent of the New Jersey cannoli?  

            I suppose the original Confederacy could get together but at the moment of this writing, only ten of the eleven states are in. So far Virginia, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee hasn't sent a petition. Let me say right now that if Virginia isn’t going to be part of this deal I’m out. Any nation that I’m a member of has to have a access to the Chesapeake Bay when crabs are in season. If they have to be imported the price will be outrageous. Equal opportunity for all in the new Confederacy goes without saying, but I don’t foresee a problem. This is the 21^st century after all.

            I really suspect that the petitioners haven’t thought through all of the ramifications of a successful secession. At first blush it sounds fine if you’re Texas. You have the fifth largest economy in the world. Why not go your own way? After all, they’ve been there before. But if a whole bunch of states are suddenly on their own, a treaty with the USA stipulating an alliance in the event of an attack on either country would be a lot less attractive if the USA consists of Vermont, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Hawaii. It’s a dangerous world out there. I wonder if the Texan that filed that petition considered the fact that a nation of 26 million people would be dwarfed by its neighbor to the south. Mexico has 112 million people. The outcome at the Alamo probably would be the same as it was last time.  

            One good thing about secession as an exercise at least, is that it forces us to recognize that regardless of who is in the White House we’re all in this together. I mean I don’t want to pay for an International permit just so I can drive to the Kentucky Derby. God Bless America.  

Copyright 2012, Len Serafino. All rights reserved.