Thanksgiving Day

Increasingly, Thanksgiving seems to be nothing more than a speed bump on our headlong rush through the holiday season. We have Christmas decorations going up before displays of Halloween candy have been taken down. We have radio stations playing nothing but Christmas songs, drained of individual meaning as they become a blur of canned sentiment and an occasional tip of the hat to Christ Jesus. It's a four-day weekend that starts on Wednesday as people rush to clear their desks at work and travel or clean house.

On one forum last year, someone saw fit to grouse about moments in American History that stand contrary to the holiday and its theme of thankfulness.

But I'm not going to spin an epistle about the things we have to be thankful for, or trot out some trite bit of poetry.

We're all aware of things to be thankful for, when we take the time to consider and reflect.

Perhaps it comes down to the Buddhist concept of mindfulness. Excellence, patience, and other qualities we consider to be virtues all flow from it. Thankfulness, when it rises above formulaic courtesy and expectations, requires that we be mindful of our relationship with others and the world around us, enabling us to give as well as receive.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day, perhaps we need to be more than just thankful.

We need to be mindful.

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