Giving Thanks

The American and Canadian tradition of "Thanksgiving" has been one that I have adopted whole heartedly. Everyone at some point has a reason to give thanks for health, love, family, work, happiness and prosperity. Some religions call for this "thanks giving" to be weekly on the holy day (usually Saturday or Sunday), others give thanks at the moment the blessing is received either to a higher power or just to the forces of the universe that bring good luck. Yet, regardless of the religious or personal belief, we all give thanks. Some societies even consider a person that gives thanks to have good manners and to be respectful. But for the sake of this piece of writing, I will strickly be speaking about the tradition of "Thanksgiving" with the turkey, mashed potatoes, apple pie and all the trimmings that accompany this incredible tradition.

When in my family we began celebrating Thanksgiving, I was a bit skeptical because I thought it was "too American" and the history behind it made me doubt even more. How could we give thanks when Americans massacred the Native Americans that gave them a meal during a rough fall for the pilgrims? How could we not think of the Native Americans living in reserves and having to deal with discrimination and a world that does not welcome their traditions and way of life? However, after several days of reflection, I realized that the holiday and celebration is not about the massacre of the Native Americans. Regardless of what happened after the first Thanksgiving dinner, the purpose of the meal was to give thanks to life, food, friends and family.

The past three years that I have spent in Mexico City, I have dealt with strong anti-American attitudes from all sorts of people. Anything resembling the USA or American is automatically rejected in fear it will ruin our Mexican traditions and heritage. Halloween is frowned upon by many people because it is not Day of the Dead, yet both can be celebrated without loosing culture or becoming American. Thanksgiving cannot possibly be seen as an American tradition; giving thanks is not reserved to one culture or one country. Giving thanks to anyone, God, family, luck, life, etc., is universal. We should all be thankful for what we have and who we have around us. Only by giving thanks can we continue to receive blessings.

I have a dream...

For as long as I can remember, technology has been a very important part of my life. At a very young age, my parents gave me a PC and on it I learned how to do and undo everything. When we became more "modern," I was able to connect my Hewlett Packard PC to dial up internet, and I was able to further explore the computer world. After that PC, whose image of it sitting on my desk is still clear in my mind, several computers followed, as well as the advancement to dsl and wireless internet, and several other gadgets also made way into my life.

After a two month trip in Europe where being connected was a luxury more precious than a decent place to sleep or having money to spend, I feel I became a bit less "connected" to the internet and the world of technology. In my opinion, after this trip, I check my phone 50 times a day instead of the usual 100 and checking my email on the hour is no longer a necessity. I still like to buy gadgets thinking of the million ways my life will be made easier (and more writing will get done!), but I do feel less connected to technology.

However, today I was reminded of the most important reason why I am such a fan of technology, and why I have made it such a strong part of my life. In school, we are working on a unit about literacy and I am trying to focus the supplemental material on the African-American culture and the culture's use of word power through speeches, poetry and music. The epitome of this power is Doctor Martin Luther King who is famous world wide for his eloquent speeches and his non-violent movement in the search for freedom and equality. I went into Youtube, which I hardly ever visit, and searched for his speeches. For about an hour, I was immersed in video after video of speeches and songs given by several prominent African Americans, including MLK.

At one point, I felt I was in a surreal world, almost like a science fiction novel, in which I could watch black and white videos recorded during the 50s and 60s in the U.S. on my iPad in Mexico City. At moments, it was hard to concentrate on the videos themselves because I was amazed at the power of technology not only of computers but of the internet, a website like Youtube and the ingenuity of someone to upload videos that don't even have color into a website so the entire world can see them.

I am a lover of history as a story of humanity. I like knowing about the past whether it be through books, history classes (although I was never the top student because of my inability to memorize dates), movies, and stories from people who actually lived history. To me, there is nothing better than a story told by someone who felt the excitement, heard the screaming, and saw the different colors of the fight. When my parents took my sister and I to Atlanta, I remember visiting Martin Luther King's house and thinking it was impossible that I could be standing on the same kitchen where he ate, the same bedroom where he slept, and the same porch he passed on his way to an important meeting, a peaceful boycott or a march to Washington D.C. And tonight, many years after the civil rights movement and with the first minority President in the White House, I was once again filled with excitement while I watched videos of speeches that I had seen countless times, but that tonight felt like the first time. I felt like I was living history once again.

Perhaps I am a romantic, perhaps I am silly in enjoying these small pleasures, but, regardless of the many dangers technology has brought us, I still believe that thanks to technology, and in this case the internet, we can all live a piece of history in our own homes, in our own countries.