Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Community Spirit
So it may seem there's not much to be thankful for today in the UK. The English football squad failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament last night, the Government has 'lost' data and personal details for 25 million people and Northern Rock building society is needing to be shored up by public funds. Oh dear, it's all looking pretty bleak.
In the US however, all is happiness and conviviality as families and friends reunite to celebrate Thanksgiving Day and all (or many) troubles are forgotten in favour of cutting the roast turkey and sharing love and companionship. Now.....in the UK we did not have Founding Fathers or Pilgrims who shared a meal with the Wampanoag in 1621 when they settled in Massachusetts, whose celebration meal became an annual tradition. But that's no reason not to be 'thankful' in the UK. Where is our community spirit?
I think we should all have a Thanksgiving Day including the UK as its background is not particularly unique to the US. Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks (traditionally to God) for the things one has at the close of the harvest season when families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. This results in Thanksgiving holiday weekend being one of the busiest travel periods of the year. And while the main celebration usually focuses around a wonderful traditional meal of turkey and trimmings (but no giving of presents) there are also other events including many parades. But the majority of countries have a harvest, so it's not an unreasonable idea for everyone to celebrate for what we have received and also for all those things we take for granted and the love of those around us.
In our 'modern' society of intense activity, high-powered business, global economy there is rather an attitude of 'man eat dog'; everyone is out for themselves. We get together with families at Christmas but this event, having lost it's association with its Christian origins and become a shop-fest of billion pound/dollar spending, does not reflect the honest-to-goodness and purely social and family affair that is Thanksgiving Day in the US.
Can we not have a day in the year......just one day out of 365 when the focus of all our attention is to share with others, to give kindness, to share love, to embrace our friends and family as the lovely people they are irrespective of race, religion, social standing and monetary wealth? Can we please have a day that we can just enjoy the simple pleasures of sharing time with those we love, without the expense of present buying? It would be so nice if we could see and experience just a little more community spirit where we are all equals standing together and just sharing the joy of gratitude for all we've got. No matter how bad things may seem, we've still got a lot for which to be grateful. Oh Yeah!
Happy Thanksgiving Day!
:-)
