There is something about thanks and giving that brings us closer together.
Thanksgiving Day, the holiday, is actually a love day — no matter where you are or who you are. Thanksgiving is special time for families. Many of us are thankful to observe another Thanksgiving or thankful to share another one with family and friends we love (although sometimes we only love them on that day at dinner).
Regardless of your financial or health situation, we all muster enough resources to return to a place called home. Whether there is a matron in the family who prepares all the food or hosts the Thanksgiving dinner or you’re waiting patiently to taste your cousin’s sweet potato pie. Thanksgiving is really about love.
The Thanksgiving-related emails and text messages sent and received always give thanks and love. I have yet to receive a negative message on Thanksgiving. At last-minute grocery store runs and gas stations, the mood of most people is positive and thankful.
On an ordinary day, shoppers standing in line at a Safeway grocery store on Alabama Avenue in Southeast D.C. are upset with the long lines and lack of cashiers. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, people were expressing how thankful they were on two things: being alive to see another Thanksgiving with family; and thankful to have the resources to feed their families and friends.
Even those who don’t have much are thankful to be in the land of the living.
Let us not forget one of the most important parts of Thanksgiving — “Giving.” Many of us have because someone at some point gave to us, and because they gave, directly or indirectly, we all have benefited.
On Thanksgiving people are willing to give more than on any other day of the year except Christmas. Social media has allowed us to touch more people then ever before. This Thanksgiving social media has released more information on how the needy can access Thanksgiving meals, ranging from how to pick up a turkey to how to get a ride to pick up the turkey.
People give so much leading up to and on Thanksgiving Day. We give of our time and resources to better the lives of others mostly through the love for one another. Many of us expect nothing in return for giving during this season of thanks and giving. It has always been a time when families come together to give and share — in the form of food (which I love) and a family’s rich history through stories past down on this day. If you could take a picture from outer space of all the homes between the time of noon and 8 pm you would see one of the most beautiful moments of the year, families and friends coming together as one in love.
I am personally thankful for all of the “thanks” and “giving” I have received from family and friends. During the toughest times of my life, it has been the “thank you” from people in the community and the giving of others, including their advice, time and opportunities, that have strengthened me every day, which in turn reminds me to be thankful and giving — and not only on Thanksgiving Day.
Kwame Brown, a former chairman of the D.C. Council, is proprietor of LKB Enterprises LLC, a consulting firm, and KBPO Solutions, a construction management firm.
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