Peacemaking Around the Thanksgiving Table

As a Peacemaker I ask, what might a Peacemaker’s Thanksgiving be like? Ideally it would be filled with Peace, awareness, abundance, gratitude, sharing, and thanksgiving. A Peacemaker’s Thanksgiving begins with acknowledging that Peace is your goal and that this is precisely the holiday to begin incorporating Peace into your everyday actions. Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to invite others into Peacemaking through the following steps.

1. Create Awareness. How do you perceive the world around you? Where do you find beauty and meaning? We have just passed through November’s Full Mourning Moon. The next two weeks offer an opportunity to take stock, not only of the losses we’ve sustained, but also what we have gained. This season of Thanksgiving deepens our awareness of inequities in our world and sharpens our resolve for confronting uncomfortable truths on this planet. Peacemaking is becoming aware of what I can do, here and now, to effect positive change around me.
2. Accept Abundance. For all the bounty in this world, too many of us live with an attitude of scarcity. A traditional symbol of Thanksgiving is the cornucopia, the horn of plenty, not the horn of scarcity. We are surrounded by beauty beyond measure. When did scrimping and hoarding become virtuous? Peacemaking revels in abundance and seeks to share our resources equitably.
3. Express Gratitude. Becoming aware of the abundance is to realize how lucky we are and to truly appreciate the Source. It is not that the world is just or equitable. Knowing where you are and what makes the world meaningful and joyful keeps you grounded, aware you didn’t come this far alone. No matter how much farther you need to go, no one has gotten to where you are without love, support, and intervention. Peacemaking is largely a work of gratitude.
4. Sharing. Who will participate in your Thanksgiving celebration? Who will share in the preparation of the meal and have a seat at the table? Maybe you will make a donation that enables others to celebrate. What favorite foods will people bring or what new recipe can you try? What traditions will you honor or what new traditions might you create? Some celebrations will be boisterous and chaotic, others may be simple and quiet. Celebrate in ways that are meaningful and joyous for you. Peacemaking depends on what works for you rather than what traditions prescribe.
5. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is active celebration. Praise the wild abundance and both the complex and simple flavors. Revel in the people with whom you are gathered, remember those who are no longer at the table, laugh about Thanksgiving mishaps. Tell stories, voice your joys and sorrows, and cherish some in your heart. Peacemaking is seizing the opportunity to celebrate the abundance of food, family, and friends.

And when the meal is over, gather in the kitchen and remind yourselves of the joy that just happened. Peacemaking may be as simple as taking turns in the dish water, ensuring that your hands are as warm as your hearts. Carefully wash and put away the heirloom dishes with their stories, recycle containers, parcel out the leftovers and return to the world, ready to take your next steps as Peacemakers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!