Giving thanks

Thanksgiving seems to me the most widely observed of American holidays.  It is also among the most American of our widely observed holidays.  Canadians do their own on the second Monday of October, but that is the proverbial exception that proves the rule:  Canadians are also “Americans”–inhabitants of North America–and some don’t like that term  being used only for citizens of the United States.  July 4 is not a holiday that appeals to our northern neighbors, and it is not observed with the same broad familial enthusiasm.

I passed up two opportunities to travel abroad this week that would have interfered in the family get-together in Savannah, where my wife’s mother was born and cousins still live.  We’ll assemble here from Atlanta, El Paso, New York, New Haven and DC.  Sons and daughters in law, nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts, parents and grandparents:  a dense web of family relations who don’t see each other more than a few times a year any longer.  I’ve of course been abroad for many Thanksgivings during a Foreign Service career, but it would never be my choice, and we always sought while living in Geneva, Rome and Brasilia to accommodate as many American travelers as possible for the occasion.  For me, the year would not be complete without a Thanksgiving meal, and I know lots of fellow Americans who feel the same way.

The mood this year seems to me no better and not much worse than many others.  Recession still lingers.  The country is feeling less than satisfied.  The world is full of many problems but lacks one great big one.  America’s role seems more challenging to define than in the past. We are finding it hard to solve problems and easy to create them.  Witness the Republican “national security” debate last night, which focused on terrorists who have done precious little damage to the United States in recent years, while our effort to fight them has arguably done a good deal more.  Or the difficulties of Afghanistan, where the soldiers and marines of whom we are justifiably proud (and to whom we are certainly grateful) face complexities that no troops should be asked to unravel.

Americans–those whose responsibilities permit–will pause this week to watch a lot of football, eat a lot of turkey, enjoy the family, salute the troops, pause for a nap and contemplate our blessings.  They are many.  I enjoy an immense feeling of gratitude that comes from seeing two sons realize careers for which they have prepared for many years.  And a wife, nieces and a daughter in law who are likewise pursuing their dreams with talent, commitment and energy–and many fewer barriers than women faced in the past.

I am also thankful for those unnamed multitudes who have risen this year in revolt against regimes that have oppressed them for far too long.  People in the streets of Cairo, Damascus, Sanaa and Manama are showing us the consequences of our ideals and shouldering an enormous responsibility for setting things right.  Gratitude is in order.

I’ll hope to finish my book–on the role of the United States in the world after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars–before Christmas and send it off to publishers early in the new year.  I am grateful for the year that enabled its writing as well as the launching of www.peacefare.net  Not to mention the good health that allows me still to run 25 miles a week and enough mental acuity to tweet, though not with anything like the cleverness of my fellow tweeps.  I can only hope that you, too, have a good deal to be grateful for and that you will join the rest of the country in giving thanks, and overeating, tomorrow.

Then Friday we can get back to worrying about the terrorists and our civil liberties (whichever is your preference), protecting American national security and making the world a better place for lots more people.  That last especially would be a good way to show gratitude.