This is brilliant, Kaitlin. This essay is one of the most tender, compassionate and embracing pieces I have read or heard about the paradox of Thanksgiving. Acknowledging and being aware of the troublesome origins of the holiday, while not rejecting the notion of gratitude and sharing. I say this every time, but thank you for your kind wisdom that helps light the way!
tendered. Is a beautiful way to show up this Thanksgiving.
Your words Kaitlin have widened my perspective and stretched my arms to receive the notion, “ there is more to the story.” The white-washed story I was taught in a tiny classroom growing up in Pennsylvania, the story of how Thanksgiving really came to be and the meaning that truly matters as I have come to know as an adult. The learning and un-learning I do with my family so we hold a li’l sorrow as well as celebration understanding this day represents so much more than we once believed. Thank you Kaitlin.
I am grateful for you and your bravery in creating a circle where community can hold the whole of the story, the bitter and the sweet and recognize our health and wealth resides in the way we can find our way back to Mother Earth and one another. Living Tribally is our way through this time may we tend to each other gently and kindly.
This is absolutely beautiful. So much here that helps us reframe the holiday while holding onto what can still be sacred and healing about it. This has helped me so much: "This year, I want Thanksgiving to be a beginning, not a destination.
In other words, I want us to show up tenderly to this moment, whether it’s in our personal lives or in our collective ones. I want us to think of Thanksgiving as a marker on our journey, or the beginning of something, not the final destination." What a great way to think of all these events and moments that feel so big and sometimes heavy. Thank you.
Thank you for the timely reminder. In the past few years I have thought of the holidays as the great let down. In fact, this time as you say, is about slowing down, turning inward and being great full for the good in our lives. It seems that we no longer have a slow season in our calendar year and i for one cannot keep up this pace. marci for the reminder that we can choose how we celebrate and be at this time of year.
Yes!! I love this so much. We have to hold space for where we are in order to move forward. And engage with the reality of decolonization as a generational process that requires moving from where we are.
If you get a chance, I would love to hear your thoughts on some of what I speak to in my article "A Decolonial Thanksgiving." My core point is looking at the necessity and purpose of festivals/holidays, and the long term cultural power of transforming this holiday with colonial origins through the gift of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Ceremony.
A lot of my work looks at the ways cultural narrative + ritual shapes who we are and is our primary continuity across time. Actually decolonizing, especially on a mass scale, requires a fundamental transformation of cultural norms and narratives from the root. This to me feels like one powerful way of beginning that process. Like you said, this is a beginning. Just as giving thanks is the beginning to everything, the words that go before all words.
Go raibh maith agat, miigwech, thank you for your words, the love and liberation you nurture in the world.
I mentioned this piece in my latest post 'Thanks But No Thanks', where I talked about being in tune with what resonates with us and letting go of the rest. I loved your perspective of us having arrived and still arriving.
This is brilliant, Kaitlin. This essay is one of the most tender, compassionate and embracing pieces I have read or heard about the paradox of Thanksgiving. Acknowledging and being aware of the troublesome origins of the holiday, while not rejecting the notion of gratitude and sharing. I say this every time, but thank you for your kind wisdom that helps light the way!
Thank you Larry, for all your encouragement and kindness. It means so much to me!
Well said.
Thank you.
A beginning,
fresh eyes,
softened heart,
tendered. Is a beautiful way to show up this Thanksgiving.
Your words Kaitlin have widened my perspective and stretched my arms to receive the notion, “ there is more to the story.” The white-washed story I was taught in a tiny classroom growing up in Pennsylvania, the story of how Thanksgiving really came to be and the meaning that truly matters as I have come to know as an adult. The learning and un-learning I do with my family so we hold a li’l sorrow as well as celebration understanding this day represents so much more than we once believed. Thank you Kaitlin.
I am grateful for you and your bravery in creating a circle where community can hold the whole of the story, the bitter and the sweet and recognize our health and wealth resides in the way we can find our way back to Mother Earth and one another. Living Tribally is our way through this time may we tend to each other gently and kindly.
I love the stretching of your arms toward "there is more to the story"--that is a beautiful invitation. Thank you!
This is absolutely beautiful. So much here that helps us reframe the holiday while holding onto what can still be sacred and healing about it. This has helped me so much: "This year, I want Thanksgiving to be a beginning, not a destination.
In other words, I want us to show up tenderly to this moment, whether it’s in our personal lives or in our collective ones. I want us to think of Thanksgiving as a marker on our journey, or the beginning of something, not the final destination." What a great way to think of all these events and moments that feel so big and sometimes heavy. Thank you.
Thank you for the timely reminder. In the past few years I have thought of the holidays as the great let down. In fact, this time as you say, is about slowing down, turning inward and being great full for the good in our lives. It seems that we no longer have a slow season in our calendar year and i for one cannot keep up this pace. marci for the reminder that we can choose how we celebrate and be at this time of year.
Such a helpful word this week - showing tenderness, we can begin (and also keep taking steps). Thanks for your generous journal.
I sometimes ponder going straight to jan. 1 right after thanksgiving.
It seems to be a more better rest stop along creators good road than what we have turned X-mas into.
You just have a way of saying things that makes sense - thank you!
Yes!! I love this so much. We have to hold space for where we are in order to move forward. And engage with the reality of decolonization as a generational process that requires moving from where we are.
If you get a chance, I would love to hear your thoughts on some of what I speak to in my article "A Decolonial Thanksgiving." My core point is looking at the necessity and purpose of festivals/holidays, and the long term cultural power of transforming this holiday with colonial origins through the gift of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Ceremony.
A lot of my work looks at the ways cultural narrative + ritual shapes who we are and is our primary continuity across time. Actually decolonizing, especially on a mass scale, requires a fundamental transformation of cultural norms and narratives from the root. This to me feels like one powerful way of beginning that process. Like you said, this is a beginning. Just as giving thanks is the beginning to everything, the words that go before all words.
Go raibh maith agat, miigwech, thank you for your words, the love and liberation you nurture in the world.
I mentioned this piece in my latest post 'Thanks But No Thanks', where I talked about being in tune with what resonates with us and letting go of the rest. I loved your perspective of us having arrived and still arriving.