Thanksgiving Day

By: Ricardo Dacosta
aka: Raghavendra Giri

There is only a few days for Thanksgiving Day. There are a few things that I would love for you to take into consideration:

1) If you are eating meat, please be very grateful to the bird that gave up his life to be at your plate.
2) Whether you are eating meat or not, please be very grateful to everyone who was involved in getting your veggies at the table, and although we don't hear the veggies crying when we harvest them, we should be grateful to them and to mother earth for her continuous ability to nourish each one of us.
3) You may get mad at me for this one, but PLEASE stop the continuous lying to kids about how nice the pilgrims were to the native people. Take a minute of silence instead for all the native people who were killed during those times.
4) Be grateful for all that you have and for what you don't have.
5) Be grateful to God for give you the gift of being a human being in this life.
6) Pray for peace, compassion & love for all human beings on earth.

About "organic" & " Free range" turkey

Two years ago I was living in Winston Salem, NC. I was working as a Sushi Chef at Whole Foods Market at the time. It was really hard for me to see how desperate people were about getting their "organic" "free range" turkey. Although it may seem better, it is unfortunate that due to the overconsumption of the same animal on one particular day of the year (according to USDA statistics, approximately 45 million are killed for Thanksgiving, and 22 million are killed for Christmas) the term "organic" does not equal humane!

It is unfortunate that when you buy an "organic" or "free-range" turkey, you have no way of knowing just how natural a life that turkey actually led. If you haven't decided what you are going to have for Thanksgiving, I suggest you try something different, something you can put your whole heart and sould into it and if you want to add some meat to it then why not try a different animal, like a Tofurky!

That year in Winston Salem I decided to fast instead and do a little activism on the street, hanging flyers and so on; to honor all the turkeys and to also honor the native american people.

Here is a small section of the flyer I was hanging out on that day, for a copy of the full flyer, email me and I will send it to you.

Native Americans & Thanksgiving

Today the town of Plymouth Rock has a Thanksgiving ceremony in remembrance of the first Thanksgiving. In 1970, they asked one of the Wampanoag people to speak at the ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim's arrival. Here is part of what was said:

"Today is a time of celebrating for you -- a time of looking back to the first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed them with open arms; little knowing that it was the beginning of the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white people. What has happened cannot be changed. But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important."

I would love for you to make this Thanksgiving Day a Family Day, a day of sharing and a day to be thankful for all that we have and for what we don't have, not about the Turkey, not about the Pilgrims & Squanto and definitely not about shopping!

Copyright notice : None parts of this essay can be reproduce without permission from the author

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