Happy Giving Thanks Day

Have you ever fallen flat on a bed and thought about your childhood?
Remember the good things, and then when you think about your flaws, you can see why you have those flaws now, because of something.

I know, I know. The topic of discussion as seen above is a little...well, yeah I know. But has it ever occured to any one of you that even when we have a few things to be thankful for, there are ten things behind those few which scream to be heard.

This is totally unrelated: who were the real pilgrims? I found a picture of myself last night now that I am at my parent's house (my, how they clean at the moment). I was wearing a bright bright sweater, with a paper bag hat, with colored paper feathers on it (a headdress), a necklace made of hard pasta shells, and a paper bag vest, with the name "chief jonathan" written in colored markers. I was in pre-kindergarten...I can't believe I was small enough to wear a grocery bag as a vest at one point in my life.

I remember second grade: I was William Bradford, the pilgrim. I don't really remember any the details of his life, but I do remember doing a really nice cutaway drawing of the Mayflower. I think I spent all afternoon in Mr. Child's class making it look perfect.

As we get older, the school emphasis on Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, etc. tones down. But I remember thinking these people were heroes of some sort, and more than that--I was connected to them somehow (oh yes, they were white and european). I just find it dumbfounding that we never talked about the Native Americans (Indians was the word in class back then) getting slaughtered, or fighting back with pride. I guess they'd save the serial westerns on TV for that education.