I have my Thanksgiving blog post all scheduled and ready to post. It’s a bit of inspiration. Light.
And then, today, I received an email from a colleague thanking me for supporting his work with others.
As I wrote back to him, I was filled with gratitude recalling all the goodness he has brought into my life and the incredible business opportunities I have experienced through his generosity. It felt lovely, but that isn’t why I’m writing this post.
As I wished him and his family a happy Thanksgiving, I thought how truly lucky we are. I was, of course, struck by the contrast with what I’ve seen in the news these past weeks.
Today, there are refugees–men, women, children, babies–on the run, in sinking ships, in refugee camps, in limbo–just hoping to survive and, in this moment, in stark contrast, we live with such abundance.
These people do not need our hatred or our fearmongering or judgement or blame. Hitler played upon these lower emotions when he blamed Jews, Gypsies and Homosexuals for Germany’s economic plight. There are demagogues who want to capitalize on the plight of others and breed hatred and intolerance, blame and fear. We can choose to let the demogogues into our minds and hearts or we can choose to shut them out.
Let us be grateful for all we have this Thanksgiving and be generous with the bounty we are blessed with. I believe that the most generous thing we can practice is tolerance and love for our brothers and sisters throughout the world and in our own county.
There is no good reason to practice hate, ever.
So, let’s send blessings to everyone, including those fear-mongering politicians who probably need a little love as well. May all be blessed. May all be free from suffering. May all know peace.
