Ah thanksgiving... a time were we can all comfortably stuff our faces with the ones we love and just be thankful for once in our lives that we are sheltered, spoiled, and have an abundant of food to eat.
I have a lot of things to be thankful for. Steven, Traci Hines, a house to move into, clothes i can afford, a job with an OK pay, a ton of food i can eat without going hungry, and i get to see Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera for my 8 year anniversary...
But this thanksgiving i learned something.
It all began when I wondered "where did thanksgiving come from?"
I wasn't really taught or told the story. i think the natives gave turkey to the pilgrims because they didn't want them to starve or something. that or the pilgrims just fucking stole the turkey from the natives. i mean, isn't that what they ALL did?
JUST KEPT TAKING AWAY FROM THE NATIVES UNTIL THEY HAD NOTHING? And then i remembered someone who mentioned something regarding thanksgiving and the natives. Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family, anyone?
[We] have taken
the land which is rightfully [the natives]. Years from now [native] people will be
forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. [Our] people will wear
cardigans, and drink highballs ( which I ironically do :\ ). [Natives] will sell [their] bracelets by the road
sides, [we] will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d'oeuvres ( OK i don't play golf but i looove hor d'ouvres ). [Native] people will
have pain and degradation. [Our] people will have stick shifts.
Not much of a thanksgiving for the natives. and yet, should i be thankful to the people who "founded this land," who stripped away the land from the natives so my family could exist and work here? in a land where it's supposedly "the true north, strong and free"? not so strong and not so free for the natives :\ should the natives be thankful that they still exist in some way? i don't think so. and then by chance, today i came across a blurb that a my dear friend "Lady-Erik" (
Yes i know you read this) had written lovingly on her facebook:
I think our schools need
to teach the truth and brutality that created the lives we live now, and
the genocidal irradiation, rapes and ethnic cleansing that continued
until the 1970s of Native cultures. From 1950-1970 under Governmental
law Native American reservations underwent 'sterilization' -- in which
effectively made it so hundreds of Native women were unable to conceive,
and the native communities were completely unable to grow.
During European colonization of the America's (including Canada, yes,
that's in America), it became known as a 'sacred duty' to kidnap Native
women with the soul purpose of repeatedly raping them until they died.
Peachy just peachy what our society is built on is this.
And i kept thinking... "What was the point of thanksgiving?"
Coincidentally i went to go see "Captain Phillips" (
no spoilers today) starring tom hanks. the movie was based on a real event in 2009 when Captain Phillips was held hostage by pirates (and not of the
yohoho-i-have-rum kind). The film showed Somali pirates. It basically showed a struggle for survival for Phillips, but also an everyday struggle for survival for Somalians who had little to eat everyday and had to hijack boats to make a living. Phillips asked the main antagonist "there's gotta be more to life than just stealing and hijacking boats" to which he told Phillips "maybe in America. maybe in America." It gave me some perspective. they they had to hijack boats to make a living to care for their families. Phillips also said "i was just carrying food to places like Africa where people starve" to which the antagonist replied "that's after you come and over-fish. that's why there's none left for us to eat in the first place"
Does this sound familiar?
Not only have we taken things that are not ours, we ruined the lives of many people over the years because we were greedy. We are greedy.
Continually, i kept thinking... "What giving have we done? all we have done is take." I got depressed. and confused.
I mean if it weren't for the french coming into Vietnam, we wouldn't have banh mi and other french inspired foods that married with the Chinese foods, right? or education. or the right to speak our mind. Right?
if the European settlers didn't "modernize" North America, my dad probably would've died in the Vietnam war. Or he'd have nowhere to escape to.
And if my dad didn't cross a thousand oceans to be where he is now, he wouldn't have come across dolphins to (literally) lead him towards a new life. right? and i wouldn't be here to .. yknow .. think idle thoughts and ramble.
I mean here I am sitting comfortable in my chair, starring at the computer monitor voicing out my thoughts without worrying if the Taliban will shoot me in the head for typing my heart out, with my iphone next to me. what is there to NOT be thankful for at the same time... right? and at the same time... look at how much chaos there was in order for us to even sit and stare at a screen all night.
What did i learn this thanksgiving? I learned...
that i am such a big, confused-as-fuck fence-sitter :|
