Thanksgiving Day/Week Article

Thankful for Unearned Gifts

Americans are great earners. We work for our money. We study to get good grades in high school and college. Many study really extra hard to get that master’s degree and doctorates. We know our doctors and scientists work especially hard to earn their degrees and good incomes. We expect others to pay their own way and earn their money and living. We are very unhappy when we can’t pay our way at times when we are unemployed.

One day at a Thanksgiving dinner a woman who had worked her way up the ladder from deep poverty to brilliant success proclaimed that she had earned everything she ever got, her money, her home, her art collection and her family’s respect for her.

I wearied of her arrogance. I asked her if she had earned her foot? She looked shocked. Did you earn your eyes, your brain, and the fact that you are white? Did you earn your mother who made you go to school or your father who worked in a mine?

She grew quiet and our host changed the subject.

We live in a society that cherishes hard work, prosperity and the accumulation of stuff. Yet most Americans are generous when it comes to helping those in need, from hurricane disasters to individuals we know who are ill. We also rejoice when a child is dragged out of a mineshaft, a cat is rescued from a dangerous roof and another miracle drug is discovered.

Some of the most thank –filled people are people elderly people confined to bed or glad to be alive after harrowing illness.
Also, many very wealthy people who know they were lucky, were at the right place at the right time, were born into affluence or stumbled on an invention are thankful for the unearned part of their success.

Certainly at Thanksgiving time we are thankful for all that we have and all that we have been given, like our parents, our particular children and the miracle of friendship.

Every day we can be thankful for all that we have that we didn’t earn. We start with the gift of life itself. We did not earn it. The gift of our feet, eyes, brains, our whole bodies are free gifts to us. They come from God, the universe, evolution or perhaps out of nothingness. It really doesn’t matter.

What does matter is how we use these unearned gifts. The best aspects of our culture inspire us to use these gifts to serve others, those who have no feet, no sight, no food and no hope. Giving thanks for all the earned and unearned gifts we have can result in the giving of ourselves and our gifts to others.

We can give some of our money away to worthy charities, work to change our society so people do not lose their homes, do not go without food and have adequate medical care. Thanksgiving can means serving not only a festive meal but also others who need our help.