The Thanksgiving Reader

the Thanksgiving Reader For more information, visit www.吀栀e吀栀anksgivingReader.com

Thanksgiving 吀栀e Best Holiday of the Year 吀栀is is a holiday about gratitude, about family and about possibility. It brings people together to not only celebrate the end of the harvest, but to look one in another in the eye and share something magical. I’m hoping that this year, you and your family will help us start a new holiday tradition. 吀栀e idea is simple: At your 吀栀anksgiving celebration (and yes, it’s okay to use it outside the US), consider going around the table and having each person read a section aloud. Before the meal starts, all you need to do is put one page on each person’s chair and follow the simple steps. During the ten or 昀椀昀琀een minutes your family spends reading together, millions of people will all be reading the same words, thinking about the same issues, connecting with each other over the essence of what we celebrate. A昀琀er all the travel and the cooking and the hassle, for these few minutes, perhaps we can all breathe the same air and think hard about what we’re thankful for. 吀栀ank you for being part of this, something bigger than each of us. 吀栀e 吀栀anksgiving Reader was created by Seth Godin. Art Direction: Alex Miles Younger. Special thanks to Casper ter Kuile, Chelsea Shukov, Gretchen Rubin, Susan Piver, Dan Pink, Pamela Slim, Anne Marie Miller, Niki Papadopoulos, Arianna Hu昀케ngton, Kevin Kelly, Anne Kreamer, Brian Koppelman, Liz Danzico, Debbie Millman, Emily McGuire, Willie Jackson, Winnie J. Kao and you & your family. Images: Viintage.com and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705

A note to the host: 吀栀is 吀栀anksgiving Reader is designed to be read, out loud, together. Some of the readings are for individuals, some are for pairs (responsive), some are for the entire group as one. You don’t have to hand out all of the readings, and we’ve included a range of topics here. Of course, if you have something you’d like to add, please do! Every family deserves its own tradition. •

Put one reading on each person’s seat. [吀栀e next 17 pages are the readings]

We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, su昀昀ering, gender and other discrimination. • Nelson Mandela •

吀栀ere once was a man, who was raising his young son. 吀栀e mother had passed away in childbirth and he was teaching his son all that he knew. 吀栀is son, grew up and in time wanted to go to a nearby village and 昀椀nd him a companion. Many months passed and the young man returned to his home, and with him he had a woman, his wife. 吀栀ey lived in the home of his father. Shortly a昀琀er, they had a son. And the father, now a grandfather, began teaching this young boy all that he knew: how to respect the forest, the animals and life. 吀栀e mother, tiring of sharing her home with the old man, told her husband that she wanted the old man out. 吀栀e father spoke “I cannot; this is his home and he built it for us.” She spoke, “If you do not make him leave then I will take our son and I will leave.” 吀栀e father agreed and spoke to his son. “My son, tomorrow I want you to take Grandpa out and leave him. Give him this blanket.” 吀栀e young boy cried. “Why do you do this? Grandpa has been teaching me all that I know. Why do I have to do this to him?” 吀栀e father spoke. “Son, follow the wishes of your father.” So the next morning, the father went hunting to the North. 吀栀e son took Grandpa as far as he could walk to the South. 吀栀at evening the young boy was si琀琀ing on the bed crying when his father came In. He saw the blanket on the bed. “Son, I thought I told you to give Grandpa the blanket?” “I gave Grandpa half of the blanket. 吀栀e other half, I will give to you some day.” 吀栀e mother and father understood the message. And they went and brought Grandpa back. • Traditional story •

You can’t carve up the world. It’s not a pie. • Pa琀琀i Smith •

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gi昀琀s, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and bene昀椀cial lessons. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. • Melody Bea琀琀ie •

吀栀ere is so much to be thankful for each day. Today we take the time to pause and acknowledge this special season of harvest and its traditions of sharing with those less fortunate. We take time to notice the labor of others, from farm to table, that culminates in this feast. Today we pause to recognize how fortunate we are and to be grateful for the bounty we share with friends, family and loved ones, be they with us or far away. We take pause to celebrate that we each can and do make meaning for our own lives; by the deeds we do, to make the world a be琀琀er and a more humane home for all. Every day o昀昀ers us the opportunity to make a di昀昀erence not just in our own lives but in the lives of others. We o昀昀er our hands our minds and our hearts to help all those who seek to make the world a be琀琀er place. Today we take time to rejoice not just with the food we share but also the give and take of love and compassion that we experience each day. We are 吀栀ankful to each of you for being here to share today with us. • Rebecca Hale •

吀栀is is a responsive reading, it’s on two di昀昀erent sheets, you and someone else alternate, you read the bold lines. Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. • Tecumseh, Shawnee •

As I Walk with Beauty As I walk, as I walk 吀栀e universe is walking with me In beauty it walks before me In beauty it walks behind me In beauty it walks below me In beauty it walks above me Beauty is on every side • Traditional Navajo Prayer •

吀栀is food is the gi昀琀 of the whole universe—the earth, the sky, and much hard work. May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it. May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed. May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. We accept this food so that we may realize the path of practice. • Traditional, via 吀栀ich Naht Hanh •

吀栀is is a responsive reading, it’s on two di昀昀erent sheets, you and someone else alternate, you read the bold lines. 吀栀ank you for teaching me how to love. 吀栀ank you for teaching me not to be afraid, or to be afraid and to live anyway. 吀栀ank you for showing me what is possible. 吀栀ank you for teaching me to care. 吀栀ank you for helping me become con昀椀dent enough that I didn’t need your help (now, I only want your help.) 吀栀ank you for showing me that I’m worth it. 吀栀ank you for le琀琀ing me help you. 吀栀ank you for le琀琀ing me sit with me fear, so that I could learn to live. 吀栀ank you for being there when being alone just wasn’t enough.

“It goes without saying,” they say. Without expressing simple joy anxiety gratitude 昀氀usteredness love anger! or thanks. It just goes without saying, most of the time and we go looking watching waiting not noticing the oak or the ash. 吀栀e marks in the leaves are the same. Right? Anyway, no one is saying anyway. But what if it went with saying. 吀栀ey’d say, “It goes with saying.” And we might say, thanks. • bobulate •

吀栀e Messenger My work is loving the world. Here the sun昀氀owers, there the hummingbird—equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. Here the clam deep in the speckled sand. Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what ma琀琀ers, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. 吀栀e phoebe, the delphinium. 吀栀e sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here, which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever. • Mary Oliver •

吀栀anksgiving Day Prayer For the wide sky and the blessed sun, For the salt sea and the running water, For the everlasting hills And the never-resting winds, For trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses By which we hear the songs of birds, And see the splendor of the summer 昀椀elds, And taste of the autumn fruits, And rejoice in the feel of the snow, And smell the breath of the spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty. • Walter Rauschenbusch •

On Friendship And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship. And he answered, saying: Your friend is your needs answered. He is your 昀椀eld which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your 昀椀reside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.” And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; for that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unpro昀椀table is caught. And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know of its 昀氀ood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to 昀椀ll your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of li琀琀le things the heart 昀椀nds its morning and is refreshed. • Kahlil Gibran, 昀爀om 吀栀e Prophet •

I think that we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do—by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include. • Robert Nelson Jacobs •

A quiet moment Let’s all sit, silently, and feel the magic in the room, the possibility of connection and the optimism we gain when we know we are in it together.

We’ve found that starting and ending the 吀栀anksgiving ceremony with a group reading brings even more magic to the table. If you’d like to do this, put a copy on every person’s seat (or every other person’s seat and ask people to share). [8 copies of the group readings]

To be read together To begin: We are never as alive as when we are together. Speaking together, as one, ampli昀椀es our spirit. Generosity and thanks bind our community together. At the conclusion: May you experience happiness. May you bring light to someone else’s life. May you abide in joy. And may you allow yourself to feel gratitude, and to multiply that feeling by sharing it with those around you. Take a moment, now, and go around the table and share what you’re grateful for. •

If you want, you can use the following questions to keep the conversation going throughout the meal. [Bonus Material]

Questions to discuss: What’s the value of gratitude? Why does it even ma琀琀er? Why aren’t people, especially Americans, more grateful? What can we do to feel grateful the other 364 days of the year? Are older people more grateful than younger people? Or is it the reverse? We all know the value of connections, but where did the barriers come from and what can we do to topple them? Who’s the most grateful person you know? Who’s your gratitude role model? What is something—a conversation, advice you received, etc.—you became grateful for only well a昀琀er it occurred? Why did it take you so long? Have you lived a life that deserves gratitude from others? •