November 25, 2016 at 3:46 p.m.
Giving thanks for the white noise
Giving thanks for the white noise
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season proper, a time of good tidings and cheer, with its festival of flavors and its potpourri of family and friends. We give thanks for the bounty, for the nation, and for all the good people and times in our lives.
We count our blessings. We take time to remind ourselves that no matter how bad things may be, they could be worse. We wish the best for those less fortunate and vow to keep them in our hearts.
It is a welcome release, this thing called Thanksgiving, a day when we can finally give thanks rather than just offer condolences, or prayers, or a helping hand. It is a time when we can look ahead with a smile rather than glance over our shoulder in fear.
In today's world, the loud and sharp noises of misfortune and tragedy, of illness and violence, of hunger and poverty all too often dominate our days. We hear the loud report of bad news on broadcast channels and in print media, on social media, at work, and in our personal relationships. Everywhere we go we are greeted by dreadful happenings in the modern world.
It is not something we can simply leave at the office, or easily ditch on the way home. While our social ills used to be kept hidden in quiet and dark corners, these days our interconnected world compels us to bring these problems home with us.
This is not an altogether bad thing. No cure for social ills was ever devised by sweeping the unfortunate into dark and quiet corners. So we do our part, hopefully, in our own way, and we reserve giving thanks for what we have for some other day, for Thanksgiving or other special occasions.
It is important to remember, though, that we are not alone with the problems that follow us home. The good things in life we give thanks for on Thanksgiving - our families and friends, the people and relationships that make life worthwhile and indeed define life itself - are with us every day, in one way or another.
Even when they live far way, our loved ones can join us as a fleeting thought, in an emotional moment of intimate camaraderie, on an otherwise dreary day.
The people in our lives are like a white noise, the continuity and stability of which allows us peace in a world that is decidedly not peaceful. But they are there in their steady melodic combinations, the soft noise of soothing souls walking with us through the cacophony of the outside world.
It is our hope that, in the coming year, we all strive to make every day a Thanksgiving Day, that we all stop every day, once a day, to recognize and give thanks to the important people in the background of our day.
Their subtle noise is all important, life sustaining, and yet sometimes so faint, so white, we forget they are there. But there they are, in a thin place, a spiritual space where all the important people in our lives reside.
We can call upon them at any time, and there they are by our side. We can say thank you, and thank you can be a powerful call to action and fulfillment, for it is the most powerful message that hope is received and appreciated and offered in return.
Saying "thank you," it turns out, is nothing less than the most basic bonding expression of humankind: Thank you for being with me; together we move forward stronger and better.
There's not a more empowering message than that, and it's far too important to be sequestered in one day. Every time we remember the people in our lives who quietly, steadily help us through, and say thank you, the white noise that they are becomes a little more potent.
Soon enough, it cannot help but overcome the louder noises of despair and hurt. Soon enough, it cannot help but stabilize the chaos of the cacophony and make the world a better place for all..
Give thanks every day to the white noise in our lives, and soon enough it will become the only noise, the noise of peace and shared humanity.
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