Thanksgiving Retrospective

Thanksgiving (A.K.A. Turkey Day) has come and is fast slipping away. A thirty mile trip to an in-law’s home, surrounded by half-remembered (“Whose kid is that?” “Did she used to have red hair?” Is that the one who moved to Denver?”) In-laws, relatives and acquaintances.
Dry turkey breast (what else can it be when it was force-fed to the point where it could not take a step?), two kinds of stuffing, three kinds of potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and a more than decent pumpkin pie baked by a niece. Then on to football.
WHY do they allow the Lions to dominate the fourth Thursday in November? They set an NFL record last year by winning NO games at all. This year they’ve actually won two—the last by a single point. But today was not one of their better performances. Sheer on field ineptitude led to the usual spate of comparisons between how the Lions are managed and how Ford Motor Company is run— the same people own both. Someone remembered that the Lions had actually won championships before the Ford people bought them.
Which led, of course, to general commentary on the condition of the auto industry and the State of Michigan. A Republican expressed pity for Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm who walked into the state house just when the roof fell in.
Our host pointed out that even though he was receiving neither a free turkey nor a bonus this year (from an auto parts manufacturer), the pay cuts seemed to have stopped and it looked like the company was stabilizing. “A lot of that,” he suggested, “was due to the ‘Cash for clunkers’ program’”. He admitted to trepidation as to how long this uptick might last.
He was, he told us, doing twice the work now for less money—replacing a lot of other engineers who were no longer among the employed. His sister who works in the medical field said the same was true for her—both were thankful just to have a steady paycheck.
Home again to a television that was streaming every James Bond and Godfather flick ever made. So the boys turned to “Myth Busters” whose mission this evening seemed to be to prove that we really did land on the moon forty years ago. (The myth being that all the landings were actually filmed in a terrestrial studio—20% of Americans supposedly believe this.)
We did catch a few moments of the Macy’s Parade before we left this morning. It’s nice to be reassured that Herald Square is still there, that there still is a Santa Claus on 34th Street. Hannah Montana had the wit to stay home; she sent her co-star who warbled manfully.
At some point this past afternoon I related the experience my wife had when she went to Sam’s Club to buy a turkey of our own. She went on Monday before the holiday. Sam’s was out. Not a bird in the store. She asked a clerk what had happened.
“We were out by Saturday,” he told her. “All kinds of business ordered turkeys for their employees. Some orders were so large we had to special order turkeys from the warehouse. By Saturday there simply weren’t any more to sell.”
My host and I agreed that this meant there were a whole lot of West Michigan employees who were getting a turkey this year in lieu of a raise or a bonus. Consolation prize? Or a subtle hint that they should be happy to still be working?
Christian writ commands followers of Christ to be “thankful in all things”. Sometimes it is difficult to keep a touch of the sardonic out of one’s voice when being so. We’ve been spoiled in this state (it was so rich it don’t bother to tax most pensions, for instance). Now the party seems to be breaking up—if it isn’t completely over yet.
The words of an ancient prayer come to mind, “Give us this day our daily bread”. In other words all we can reasonably ask for is today’s food. Not tomorrow’s or next month’s. Just today’s. And we should be thankful to have it.