Because I Have so Much to be Thankful For

I’m writing another entry for Thanksgiving because I have so much to be thankful for. I just have to tell you about my Thanksgiving Day.

It started the day before Thanksgiving, when I was walking across campus burdened with my shopping bags. I had just made a successful foray to Metro, buying a bottle of liquor for Carrie Ann’s birthday, and fine German chocolate for Tony’s birthday next week. He kind of wolfed down the last bit I had at the house, declaring it the best chocolate he had ever tasted. I thought it might be an appropriate gift for him. I also bought a tin of imported cookies for Evan, whose birthday was this past Saturday.

I passed on the turkey because I decided to go to Aloha’s and celebrate with Carrie Ann and the bunch from Mapleleaf School. Besides, what do I need a whole turkey for? The only thing I did not find was brownie mix, but that’s OK because I still have two boxes at home.

I then stopped at the farmer’s market and stocked up on veggies. I had just bought a crock pot – got a sweet deal on it too: only 49Yuan! A nice stew would be good on these chilly nights. So now I’m toting a shopping bag full of farm fresh vegetables in one hand and a bag full of Metro goodies in the other. They’re kind of heavy. I’d like to take a break from carrying them.

Here is a good place to set them down: in front of the banner that proclaimed, in English, that Thanksgiving Day is the day to be thankful, commissioned and unfurled at the behest of the English club.

That banner stopped me in my tracks. There was no such commemoration of a purely American tradition on campus last year. As a matter of fact the kids did not know much about Thanksgiving at all! I distinctly remember introducing the subject to my students and telling them all about the festival. I also remember the feeling of loss and disconnection I felt at being a stranger in a foreign land, amidst a people whose lives bustled about while, across the ocean, families would gather ‘round their table, join hands and give thanks for all of the blessings in their life.

I picked up my bags and wondered as I walked the rest of the way home: have I made such a difference on this campus? Being the only American for miles around, and having taught the history and traditions of Thanksgiving… well, maybe I’m taking a bit much onto myself but… HAVE I made such a difference?

For the actual Thanksgiving Day I had nothing more on my agenda but cleaning my house and attending English Corner later that night. I really need to clean the house. After all the time spent preparing for speech competitions, and then participating in them, and then rolling right into my teaching obligations, and resuming my life – going food shopping and gift shopping… I haven’t had a chance to clean house for about a week. The dust is piling up and the floors look terrible.

Dinner at Aloha’s, with Carrie Ann and the Mapleleaf group will be tomorrow. Tonight, a nice soup, made in the newly acquired crock pot will do for my dinner. Sam will be spending the night on campus because he has early classes on Friday, so he’ll probably come over. He’ll most likely join me for stew and maybe we’ll have a glass of wine. In short I anticipated a nice, quiet day.

It was anything but.

After a nice, restful sleep I got up and headed to the kitchen for tea. While waiting for the water to heat up I checked my cellphone. I had missed a call, and there was a text message. Didn’t recognize the number the missed call came from so I dismissed the notice and checked the text message folder.

Scratch that ‘one message’. There were no less than twenty seven messages on my phone, all of them wishing me a happy Thanksgiving. Some, like the one from Chris or the one from Lancy, exuded deep sentiment. Says Chris: “Good Morning, Sophia. Happy Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for what you have done for us. You are a great woman, mother and friend.” Lancy: “Thank you for being in my life. Today is a nice day to express thanks to everyone who appears around me. Wish you a nice future.” Others just wished a happy Thanksgiving and a good day.

The Chinese have their own Thanksgiving Day, celebrated in June. They don’t fill their plates with turkey and ham, and they don’t watch football afterward. It is pretty much just a day, like Father’s Day or Children’s Day, where they make a small concession to thanking the gods or God for the circumstances in their life, and then get on with it. The banks and post offices stay open, the marketers hawk their wares, the vendors with their pushcarts crowd the roads. Life goes on. Nothing really remarkable about Chinese Thanksgiving Day.

But today, AMERICAN Thanksgiving Day, there is an outpouring of thankfulness and sentiment. And a lot of it is directed at me, judging by the ongoing chiming of my phone, indicating more and more incoming messages.

So… HAVE I made such a difference here, on this campus and in these people’s lives? The idea of it bowls me over. How often are we made aware of how we have impacted someone’s life, while we’re still alive to appreciate it?

All too often such acknowledgements are made after death. By then it is too late to show the person who changed you your appreciation. Depending on your spiritual bent they may or may not know how thankful you are of them from their place in the Afterlife. Again I learn from my students and my friends in China: show your appreciation now, immediately, in the light of day while the person you are thankful for is able to see and realize what a difference you have made in the world. Even if that world is a small university campus in the armpit of an industrial town in Southwest China.

Don’t we all, at one time or another aspire to change the world? Especially when we are young and our possibilities are limitless. Don’t we vow to rock that boat, roll that stone off the musty old times and dance to the music heralding the dawn of a new day? A new day that we single-handedly brought about? Don’t we idly speculate about being famous, inventing something, sacrificing personal safety in favor of fighting for a higher cause… don’t we all want to change the world?

It is hard for me to accept that I have had such an impact, even if it is just in this little part of the world.

And you, my friend? Are you fretting about how the turkey will turn out, or if there will be enough pie? Are you preoccupied with which game you will watch that day, or having to fight over whether the game or the Macy’s parade will blare from the TV? Do thoughts of Black Friday intrude, even as you join hands and give thanks for your bounty? Will you spend this evening pulling Christmas decorations from the attic?

Or are you hunched over your cell phone, sending out messages of thankfulness and love to those who have made an impact on your life?

But for lack of Internet connection I would be hunched over my keyboard, sending out email after email to let you know how thankful I am for you. I am in fact typing my thanks to you as we speak. The only interruptions are the chimes of the cellphone. Now Stephanie, now Rockrose, now April and Carol. Now Martin and Summer, then Susan and Bill. No loneliness and disconnection, like I experienced last year. The messages keep coming. I’ve lost count. But I’m grateful for every one of them.

And I’m grateful for you.