Thanksgiving Resolutions

Thanksgiving Resolutions Happy Thanksgiving! As the country gets ready this week to wish everyone a Happy thanksgiving it is fitting to sit down for some reflection about what this magnificent holiday does to us and to our people. With airports full, and planes going everywhere, we thank our government for opening up, and the dynamics are in full motion. How many turkeys are sacrificed, at the tables of families so that we can all be thankful for the many graces provided during the year? However, somehow, families feel the stress of coming together, not always a happy occasion. Families evolve. So, while the families of our childhood are not the families of our adulthood or the families of our old age, we have got to evolve with the times. That is not always easy! Who knew that we had to do that? We grow up thinking about our families as our stone, our rock, but we do not believe that families are living entities that change and have to adapt to new times. Families change when a baby arrives or when an in-law arrives or leaves. So, more than a stone, families are living things that breathe and are permeable to the environment. Does the family have a good or bad reputation in our country? Do families stand by the Christian commandment of “Love your neighbor as yourself”? Or “Honor your parents”? Well, here is one of the challenges we see today. It reminds me of the mechanics of a car. Do cars have malfunctions or dysfunctions? A malfunction is when the car does not work, and it would be dangerous to take it out for a ride, at the risk of being left stuck without transportation, that is if you can turn it on, in the first place. On the other hand, the term dysfunction was connected to family functioning, back in the late 1940’s. Dysfunction comes from the Greek root Dys which means “bad, abnormal, difficult” and the word “function” from the Latin “fungi” to perform. So, dysfunction often implies a deeper or chronic issue in systems or relationships, while malfunction typically refers to a specific failure in operation of a mechanical nature. Well, this Thanksgiving, we will or not be sitting at a table with family, the closest people in our lives, given that we may share parents to arrive on earth. It depends on how healthy our system is or how dysfunctional it may be. Yesterday, as I picked up my groceries, and wished the attendant a Happy Thanksgiving, he said he was not getting together with his family, since he had left his family at 14 years of age. When prompted a bit about why so early, he was open enough to said, “oh, my father was a drunk and abuser, and I had to leave. I still see him occasionally.” Later on, I prayed that he had learned from this traumatic experience, to avoid repeating it with his own children. So, it was good to pinpoint the cause of this guy’s family dysfunction, stemming from alcohol and abuse. However, in second generations, sometimes, you don’t know what started the family dysfunction. It is just a feeling of tension that grows out of “nowhere” and people many times are not willing to talk about it. We talk about poverty in the Third World countries, but these family issues are a huge part of the spiritual poverty that consumes the First World countries. We need a spiritual revolution to change that. How to go about it? That is where the Thanksgiving resolutions come in. Perhaps we can start thinking about what our family disfunctions are all about? Where do they start? Are they still painful? Or can we apply a bit of FORGIVENESS in order to resolve some issues? That may fix 60% of the issues. So, the first resolution will be FORGIVE AND RESTART. What next? Well, some COMMUNICATION will be like the grease that lubricates the carburetor. Starting with What’s new? What’s going on? What’s old and still going on? What changes have happened in your life since the last time we talked? And keep in mind the first resolution, while you apply the second! Avoid a fight, keep it cool. And a final and third resolution could be: COMMIT to make a positive change in your family. How about visiting parents at the nursing home, once a month, once a week? Call them every day? Bring flowers to your mom? Spend the time talking with your dad? Just some food for thought, so your Thanksgiving is one to be remembered in 2025! Blessings to you, and if you could, say a prayer and give thanks for all those that came before you and created this wonderful family that you are a part of. Do we want to be a throw away culture? Or a thriving family culture? The choice is ours, you have the power to do it. 🍂 Thanksgiving Blessing Lord of abundance, we give thanks for the gift of family, for the food before us, and for the love that sustains us. May forgiveness heal old wounds, may communication open new paths, and may commitment strengthen our bonds. Bless those who came before us, and guide us to build a culture of gratitude and hope. Amen.