At Thanksgiving, the American and Canadian holiday, families get
together and celebrate many things, not least being together. It’s a time of festivity
and food.
But it’s not such a festive time for some, indeed many, due to
circumstances often beyond their control.
Some are lonely. Others are grieving. Some cannot be at home. Others
are reminded of how good things are… for
others. Some are retraumatised because of memories of past. Others find
that they have such poor associations for something apparently good that life
feels weird at these times at best. Then there is the person whose world was
rocked the day or the week before the festivities began. How do they celebrate
when their world has been swept away in a shocking torrent?
It is good to experience sorrow in a festive season at least
once in our lives. It changes things. Suddenly there is empathy for an
ever-present situation in some people’s lives, every year, be it Christmas,
Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.
Every festive season is a reminder of the vast dichotomies in the
injustices of life. There are people who have the best times of their lives,
just as there are people who have the worst times of their lives. It’s good to
bear this — both realities — in mind.
The apostle Paul offers wise advice for Thanksgiving: “Rejoice
with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)
The vulnerable need to be loved, and more than ever at Thanksgiving
and during other celebrations, for they’re reminded how unfortunate they are. The
unfortunate suffer more during celebrations because they must suffer the
fortunate.
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