Practical Thanksgiving
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- Published on Friday, October 10, 2014
By Neil Strohschein
I have noticed a rather disturbing trend in Canadian society—a trend that will one day make us the laughing stock of the world’s nations unless we take action now to keep it from spreading.
As our society’s level of affluence increases, so does the dissatisfaction of its people. As dissatisfaction increases, so does the level of complaining. As complaining increases, so do the demands put upon our governments to “do something” about these complaints. But what governments do is never good enough. So the level of dissatisfaction increases even more —and the whole cycle begins again.
Several years ago, so the story goes, the students of a community college in the United States were shocked to find the following statement in their student packets. “Effective immediately,” the statement read, “Griping will not be tolerated on this campus. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Gripers will be expelled.” I know this policy applied to students. I’m not sure if it applied to staff. If it didn’t, it certainly should have.
The college that adopted this policy had been founded by people from the town in which it was located. They had raised money, built buildings, hired teachers and developed programs that would equip their children and grandchildren to survive and thrive in a changing society. But the students weren’t happy with what they had been given. They complained about the perks and privileges they didn’t have.
So college administrators adopted this policy. They hoped that by doing so, they would change the attitude on campus and create an environment in which students and staff would work together—dreaming dreams, making plans, raising funds and working shoulder to shoulder to improve the programs, facilities and spirit on campus. I don’t know whether their plan succeeded or not. I certainly hope that it did.
As I write these words, we are one week away from celebrating Thanksgiving. My hope and prayer is that for at least one day, Thanksgiving Day, people will stop complaining about what they don’t have and be thankful for what they have been given.
You and I do not exist in isolation. We are not worlds unto ourselves. We are not self-existent, omni-competent beings. We were created to be part of a caring community and to live in community with others. The things we have are ours because other people invested in our lives and made it possible for us to accumulate the resources we have. Everything we have has come to us from someone or somewhere else. And with it has come the call to take what we have received and invest it in the lives of those around us.
There is an old Chinese proverb that goes something like this: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” The privileges you and I enjoy today are ours because someone taught us how to dream, plan and work with others to produce a better life for us all.
My generation has received much. Our parents and grandparents spilled their blood, sweat and tears on the ground to provide us with the life we enjoy today. Some spilled it overseas on the battle fields of the world. The rest spilled it on their farms, in factories, in mines and in small businesses. They built community halls, recreational facilities and churches for us to enjoy. May we, in gratitude for what we have received, do what we can to build strong families and communities in a peaceful world.
