A Thanksgiving Reflection

Thanksgiving is slow. I am thankful for that.

We prepare a traditional meal from scratch. We forbear consumption while awaiting its completion, enduring agonizingly wonderful smells. We serve the meal in serving dishes. Then we gather around a table, pray and eat. We share the meal with others, usually those closest to us. There is conversation. It takes place in person, not via electronics.

There are no presents, no Easter baskets, no costumes, no fireworks–just a meal and probably some conversation. We only shop at the grocery store and only for the specific meal.

Life is meant to be mostly slow and it has been through almost all of human history. That wasn’t by choice but by lack of any other option. I think humans are wired to be slow. We are meant to stop, to take our time, to pray, to eat and to talk. And we are meant to do these things nearly sequentially, not concurrently. We can certainly have conversation throughout the day but that seems to come naturally because the other things we are doing are natural things.

Thanksgiving may seem like kind of a weird, antiquated holiday because we haven’t quite come up with a way to jazz it up and commercialize it. That’s why retailers try to end it as soon as possible–commerce loves a vacuum. But until humans come up with a way to wreck this holiday, I am especially thankful for the time to be deliberately slow. I need the practice. Happy Thanksgiving.

Copyright 2015 Daniel Blake