A Sublime Idea

"Neither man or nation can exist without a sublime idea."
Fyodor Dostoevsky

We all have something to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving is the first I'm spending with my family in three years, and I am thankful for it. I've been at school, or living abroad, or too caught up in the hubbub of New York

We'll congregate to play Beatles songs in a round-up of guitars. My eighty-five year old grandmother will try to convince me to eat meat, just like she has for the past eight years. The dogs will be under everyone's feet, always in the wrong place at the wrong time. My dad and step-mom will be as much in love as they were the first Thanksgiving they spent together. My cousins will fight. My grandfather will pinch my cheeks and tell me I am a good girl. I have much to be grateful for.

I am grateful that I was raised to do what I love, and I am grateful that what I love is not easy to do. I am thankful that we are all here. I am thankful for Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and Ode On a Grecian Urn. I am grateful for Dr. Strangelove. I am grateful that I have three brothers to make fun of me, and the memory of a mother to comfort me. I am thankful for Irish Breakfast Tea, and I am grateful for Sam Cooke records. I am deeply thankful for cashmere. I am grateful that I am American.

We, as Americans, have much to be grateful for. Our country began as idea, rooted in the revolutionary nature of optimism, and today we must continue to believe that hope can sustain us. In this world, in this time, when life seems to be one tragedy after another, we must come together to celebrate the smallest, the most insignificant, of miracles that make every day worth living. We must come together as families, as groups of friends, and talk to each other, because that is what this holiday is really about. We must be thankful for our riches, and we must be thankful for those of us who sacrifice. We must be thankful for our freedoms, and we must be grateful for our tribulations. Today, we must remember that we are the blessed, and that we are the guardians of that idea that acts as our foundation.

Thanksgiving is a holiday for recognition of others. It is a day for understanding that each and every one of us is the unknowing beneficiary of another's kindness. It is a holiday for the beauty of generosity. It is the very best of that idea, and it is the very best of America.

We all have something to be thankful for.