Thursday, November 23, 2006

Something to think about: RSS Remote Control. 

Thanksgiving 1.0 

I'm thankful that some things don't change, they stay the same, although over time it's possible to get better at doing them.

Here's a toast to Thanksgiving, and a prayer that no one tries to improve on it. The version we got is just fine, thank you.

Even though the basic idea doesn't change, nor the implementation, there will be a fire in the fireplace this year, as in years past, this year the entertainment (football, movies, parades) will be in high-def, and the music will be 5.1 surround sound. Our ancestors never had it so good!

There's a new version of the Beatles, but Yesterday is still a great song, and George Harrison's guitar gently weeps, for George himself, we imagine.

"I said something wrong, so now I long for yesterday."

Thanksgiving in Berkeley is a fine holiday. Our free-range turkey, raised in open air and sunshine, will be in the oven soon. The stuffing and soup are made, everything spicy in remembrance of New Orleans. The stuffing has frankfurters in it, a family tradition started (as far as I know) by my German grandmother, Lucy Schmidt Kiesler. A blue hydrangea will be on the dinner table, provided by her daughter, my mother. And guests will bring pies, cranberry sauce, salads, firewood, wine, board games.

"Picture yourself in a boat on a river."

In other parts of America it will be raining and cold, even snowing. I remember a Thanksgiving in Madison in a blizzard, the first of the year, a premonition of the hardness to come, but soft in the way a first snow is soft.

Thanksgiving is the American passover, the dinner our seder. We eat a big meal and then go out for a walk. Hello there! Happy holiday. We give thanks for all that we have been given, for the good life we live here. America the nation of the world, pauses once a year to be thankful, before looking forward to the new year that's right around the corner.

"Sun sun sun here we come."

Maybe this time next year we will be at peace. Maybe all our children will be safe next year, maybe we will have learned to listen, not just to each other, not just to everyone else in the world, but to ourselves, to our hearts.

Here we go! Thanksgiving 1.0, now and always.

Thanks!