Reasons for Thanksgiving

My parents were children during the Great Depression, young adults during World War II, and reared a family during the Cold War. I benefitted from all this simply by being their child. Gratitude—thankfulness—is simply more sincere among those who had little, just as it is elusive for those of us who have always had. Yes, I’m well aware that everything is relative, and that all the things I had growing up in the fifties and sixties pale by comparison to what kids today have. But what those kids today don’t have is the example of adults who have had to make any significant sacrifice. It is with no pride that I am able to say that I’ve never had to go without, a very different legacy for my children than that bestowed upon me by my parents. Our parents’ generation grows smaller by the day, just one of many reasons to participate in StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening this coming Friday. Given our current economic situation, this makes ever so much more sense than consumerism’s Black Friday which does nothing more than reinforce the fallacy that meaningful happiness is derived from stuff. Thanks, Mom and Dad!