AnOutlook

On Our Plate

“It’s a turkey,” my friend said, referring not to Thursday’s lunch but the season. The comment was followed by a litany of whines. “We can’t travel, we can’t see family, and we can’t even join friends. A huge barn door is being slammed in our face.”  

Sadness prevails this week as the pandemic takes its toll. Arkansas is not technically shut down, but the feeling persists into a “shouldn’t” even if we could. One only has to hear the raging national number of diagnosed cases and shocking number of deaths to be inhibited. With the state’s number continuing to rise, the color code is orange if not red.  

Locked down feet have led to Netflix and some irritated snipes. Sheltered arms have begat attitudes that are not only feisty but contentious. Waiting has brought frustration and seems interminable, since the advancing vaccine may not be widely distributed until summer, if then.

Joyous is not the prevalent story that arrives when the phone rings.

Breaking out is a walk, a ride to the drive-through, curbside pickup or masked entry. That’s fine but not nearly so satisfying as a gathering. Where is perspective when the wall is four feet away?

My friend Mary used to say that imagination was more important than knowledge, for it was not limited. So, in order to be thankful this week, I did a totally unorthodox survey of what a few are most grateful for. It rendered some interesting results.

One just listed names, 10 names of 10 friends—simple, and not. Another was close to the first of the month with WiFi, electricity, heat in the house and so on. One who might have been in the kitchen listed bacon, ice cream, coffee, liquor – with coffee ranking higher than liquor, but since her response came in the morning that might have had something to do with it. Guided meditation was an unusual offering, surreal for a surreal time. A much older friend replied only with “my cat,” indicating that whatever the other nine were didn’t much matter.  

I believe the message was actually just doing a list, because then it becomes apparent that much is accessible or appreciated. My mother used to say if you aren’t giving thanks, it’s because you aren’t seeing. The Dalai Lama said it another way. “When you look at the same event from a wider perspective, your sense of worry and anxiety reduces, and you have greater joy.”

Nora Epron said, “The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about?” This year, that may be it. So, whatever part of that list you might have on Thursday, be grateful. If it’s peanut butter, be grateful, too.

Lucilla Garrett