When we were young we were taught to say please and thank you.
Please comes first followed by thank you.
But as we sit around these dinner tables of gratitude
we often forget that please was not part of our ancestors’ attitude.
Now you ask me to be grateful for the opportunities I’ve been blessed with
and absolutely I’m grateful for the capacity to digest this colonial myth.
But as I sift through these messages and lessons of European made traditions
I find it hard not to focus on the massive contradictions.
We care more about business than humanity.
I’m supposed to care more about money than my own sanity.
How counter-productive am I supposed to be?
Killing each other while living profitably.
Poverty wrapped up in a life of prosperity.
I don’t know how to live my life honestly.
So I hide and I cry and I fight and I die repetitively.
Continuously trying not to forget how to love entirely.
I’m more sorry than I am thankful during this festivity.
Maybe we should fast instead of feast on our humility.
Spiritually journey through time and remember the tragedies
that accompany celebrations like Thanksgiving turkey.
I try to be hopeful and don’t mean to be greedy.
I’d rather lift you up than bring you down with me.
This is not supposed to be about me and my privileged story,
Just this life’s got my heart all tangled and messy.
One lesson to remember is not to be thankful for the things we have taken.
We must say please and be granted the sharing before we can ever
rejoice in the wealth we are making.
It’s hard to be a cynic when you’re grateful for this existence.
So I’m thankful for all of those whose life is resistance.
Thank you to those who protect our waters and persistence.
Without your fight our children might forget about coexistence.
Please let me see all humans be free.
Please let there be love surrounding all that we see
Please forgive me for the times that I’ve harmed you
Please have the patience while I learn what to do.
I’m thankful that I don’t live in the midst of most violence.
I’m thankful that I’ve been taught to live with love and acceptance.
I’m thankful for those who I can sing and can dance with
I’m thankful just for the chance to express this.
