Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahiim

 

So, Thanksgiving has come and gone. As I write this, it is 8:21pm and I have returned to my own home to begin to write my weekly post for this blog. My family has a tradition that when we sit down to eat, after a prayer but before we start on the food, we go around the table and each say a few things we are thankful for. It is only now, after sitting before this blank page wondering for 20 minutes what I should write about, that I realize we did not keep our tradition this year.

Why? I don’t know. I didn’t even miss it until now! But I feel guilty. Part of my guilt is for breaking the tradition and for not even recognizing it, nor doing so intentionally and thoughtfully. But the bigger guilt is for not having done the action of expressing gratitude. I can’t think of a good reason that I would have forgotten about it. Sure, the day was busy, but no more than any other.

Certainly, I’ve had on my mind wanting to change up the way we “celebrate” the day. I would prefer to make a bigger effort to incorporate a reflection on our relationship to this day as Native Americans, and as American Muslims. Maybe that means that we would ignore the day all together, and make a point of expressing our gratitude in other ways on other days. Or maybe it should be that we actively participate in Day of Mourning activities instead. Perhaps it just means that we create new traditions, melding our Islamic and Native cultures, not avoiding the holiday but handling it in a whole new way. Clearly, this is going to require more thought on my part, and some serious discussions in my family.

Until then, here is my belated list of some of the things I am grateful for:

  • A supportive family
  • Good friends that I can be “real” with
  • A job that pays the bills in these difficult economic times, and allows me to be part of doing something good for my community
  • Islam
  • Lots of writing work
  • The best health I’ve ever had