It's a Holiday Cornucopia Thing

Dear America,

"Be completely humble and gentle; 

be patient, 

bearing with one another in love.  

Make every effort 

to keep the unity 

of the Spirit

 through the bond of peace."  

Ephesians 4:2-3

that's just a little sage advice from the Apostle Paul, as we merrily head into the festivities of family and friends, celebrating Thanksgiving.  

[And a cooking tip: 

fresh sage goes with everything. teehee]

Actually, to tell you the truth, this girl is kinda surprised that we get to keep Thanksgiving; how has The Left not destroyed this holiday already?  

Of course, it's getting there, with the tearing down of Columbus statues and all the rest, it may take only a few more years before these stunts turn into a force of capital punishment against the Thanksgiving tradition, and all that comes with the annual celebration.   The Pilgrims survived and lived to not only tell about it, but become the raw seedlings of a new nation....and now look at us.

Since we are not all stupid  -- as if born, like, yesterday  -- most of us are pretty well aware of what has  happened since the first Thanksgiving...at least in part.  It is in part because we are wholly reliant upon what history books tell us; and perhaps more so, we are reliant upon who tells the story, the chosen narrative and perspective.  Translation:  we, as a people, are subject to personal bias, downright lies, the perverse twisting of the truth, and not to be outdone, human error.

HUMAN ERROR describes so much of the errors of our ways -- whether we are talking in the macro or the micro.  

[Oh, cooking tip #2: 

 micro greens are so pretty! 

Make a bed of big greens,

 add a few micro greens, 

and then toss a handful of dainty, edible flowers on top

...boom. Is it a salad or a centerpiece? ]

BUT here's the thing; it doesn't matter how little or how much human error has come before us.

We are here...

I am here.

You are here.

If you are here in this moment -- if you are living within the boundaries of America's fifty states.... then you are reaping the rewards of every good, every bad, and every living breathing thing in between, in THIS here and THIS now. 

Yesterday is gone; tomorrow is not here yet; all we have is this day...and some of us may not even get all of that, right?  Which means, all we have is this moment right now, that which we universally recognize as the present.

Since the days of Plymouth Rock, the last four hundred years of America's history has been sordid, broken, violent....and that just describes yesterday.  Get it?

Some of us in America  -- right now, today, this very minute and especially last night -- are guilty of doing bad things to other people in America. 

Did you know that in the Bay Area alone, it is estimated that 100 children are sold for sex every single night...and Oakland Won't Quit on Trafficked Kids."  (And that has to be old news by now, given that post dates back to 2013.)

As a matter of fact -- today -- it is estimated that 4.5 million are enslaved through human trafficking around the globe!   Multiply the entire population of Rhode Island by 4 and that's how many people across the globe are sold into the sex slave economy around the world every single day.  [Not sure why I picked Rhode Island -- with all things considered, crime wise, the smallest state in the country ranks third, nationwide -- following Vermont #1 and Maine #2.  This little state that could...downright be one of the safest places on earth, deserves desert and a gold star.]

Speaking of Rhode Island and our history of giving thanks -- the U.S. News and World Report opening page, linked above, includes this:

Forced to flee religious persecution in Massachusetts, Roger Williams founded the first permanent settlement in 1636 in Providence on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians. Newport became a major trading and shipping port, and Rhode Island’s economy boomed. 

Rhode Island was the first of the original 13 colonies to renounce allegiance to Great Britain in 1776 and was the last to ratify the Constitution in 1790, insisting that the Bill of Rights be added.…

And I bet the whole town celebrated with a big feast...

Indeed.
Now desperately trying to segway away from human trafficking as the main dish...

In the words of Leo Buscaglia, and his book LOVE:

"An earthquake, flood, or bolt of lightening may destroy him or those he loves.  An accident may permanently cripple him.  But how he responds, reacts and lives with the handicap or through the earthquake or flood is another matter.  This he can regulate.... 

In order to change, then, man must trust that he is capable of change... 

Knowing that one is always capable of change, the second step lies in making the decision to change.  Change does not occur merely by willing it any more than behavior changes simply through insight.   One can know something is evil, painful or dangerous and still pursue it relentlessly. One can only move toward change when he willfully arrives at a proposal to do so... 

The third step in change is perhaps the most difficult.  It involves the actual processes of the relearning." 

If we are the grown ups this year  (ergo, not sitting at the kid's table) --  then we have a duty to act like grown ups, every single day.  (I know, it sucks, doesn't it....Washington D.C. Hollywood, Clinton's old and new....;  but I digress, now swimming in mashed potatoes and gravy and chestnut stuffing and yams with marshmallows toasted on top, and pie -- lots of pie -- and not coming up for air until I pop.)

[Cooking tip #3: 

just be the one who brings the rolls and the wine!]

If we remain true to ourselves, to our children, to our country, to our God -- then we must admit to ourselves that we are not perfect.  We are only human...And this is simply just a good place to start.

And to that end, the humans who have come before us are only human, too. 

Framing America's history with the same allowances and generosity that we extend to our own family -- you know, all the characters who will be joining hands around the table, giving thanks in only a matter of a few days from now -- then we may give each other the best blessing of all. 

The chance to change, to accept our past and our transgressions, to applaud our gains and our lessons, to give thanks for the pure abundance that surrounds us in the every day, then we may actually begin to love each other unconditionally, systematically, and according to my world, in the way God intended -- wholly separate from every ill, sordid, broken, and violent thing that has not only come before us, but sadly, remain in the here and now, today.

Moving forward, we are free to write, or rewrite, our own life, beginning with wherever we may be in the present moment.

We can choose light over dark.

We can make things new.

We can give thanks for every thing and every season -- from the seed planted by our first settlers, to the seed who grew up to be the wheat that made the bread that we will break in a mere three days, to the seed that creates change to reverse horrendous conditions happening every day from sea to shining sea, in America and beyond...

It's what I like to call heirloom seeds.  Every single one of us carries the same genetic material to make the next generation better than the one who came before -- through knowledge, not ignorance; through education, not indoctrination; through love, not hate; through an INDIVIDUAL DUTY to uphold the things of good character and totally native to the foundations laid so very long ago.  Anything, or anyone, that robs us of this goodness, must be overcome, must be overcome.

This is what I pray.

[Cooking tip #4: 

always come with a toast:

'Live light, travel light, 

spread the light, BE the light. 

cheers']

you're welcome.

SO given the holiday -- consider me gone girl until next time.

May this Thanksgiving find you with the ones you love and be blessed in every way.

God's neat; Let's eat! xoxo

Make it a Good Day, G