By Alliance President Terry Gips
Thanksgiving always had positive memories for me growing up, including the warmth of food and family around a shared table, televised football games and the friendly image of Native Americans welcoming Pilgrims over a meal.
While the warmth of family getting together has continued, all the rest became fraught with challenges as I got older. The challenges began in high school when I learned about colonialism and that things weren’t so great for Native Americans as white people came to America.
Discussions became more tense when I came to also understand the history of Vietnam and the roles of France and then the US in waging a war that I opposed, to the chagrin of my parents. And of course, vigorous debates over politics ensued, especially after an election. However, it wasn’t a fair fight as it was always my siblings (soon to be joined by their spouses) and my mother versus my father.
After I went off to college and became a vegetarian as my 21st birth day gift to myself and the planet, even the wonderful Thanksgiving meal I had loved became a source of great challenge and friction as I sought then non-existent alternatives. Quite frankly, it became deeply troubling between the smells and flesh gluttony I had to endure. My father proposed having an alternative to turkey….pot roast!
I became increasingly irked over time as Thanksgiving became commercialized with Black Friday shop till you drop. It even crept into Thanksgiving day itself with some stores opening that evening with long lines of shoppers. I have sought to counter this by being part of Buy Nothing Day.
On Thanksgiving about seven or eight years ago, after much study and documentaries about the head traumas and debilitating injuries football players experienced, I swore off watching any more football games. As a former football player growing up who then loved both watching televised games and going to them with my friends and then kids, it was quite a shift. I felt like a lonely alien in an American culture awash in football everywhere.
I did discover that I had a lot more free time to actually be with friends and family and was happily freed from being a willing crowd member egging on the gladiators in the Colosseum.
Transforming Thanksgiving
My family has transformed Thanksgiving into a time to just be grateful for the gifts we’ve been given and to either help provide meals and support for those who are struggling or to go to the fabulous Interfaith Thanksgiving Service of the Downtown Minneapolis Congregations bringing together spiritual leaders from numerous traditions, from Native American and Christian to Jewish and Muslims. It’s wonderful to celebrate and share our common bonds while getting donations to address hunger and homelessness. It gives me a sense of a community and shared humanity.
And of course, we have a football-less time together and enjoying a fabulous vegan, organic turkey-free feast. Just so you know it doesn’t have to be meager meal and have some ideas on various possibilities, here are some of our favorites: Tofurkey Plant-Based Roast, Tofurkey Plant-Based Ham Style Roast, Trader Joe’s Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast and all kinds of delicious Thanksgiving mainstays like stuffing, wild rice, roasted potatoes, green beans with roasted almonds or onions, Delicata squash, steamed or roasted cauliflower, pickled beets, cranberries and pumpkin pie.
I hope you, too, can transform Thanksgiving into a celebration that’s meaningful for you. Happy Thanksgiving.