Thanksgiving

My feelings about this holiday are complicated considering the shameful (and ongoing) mistreatment of the Indigenous tribes whose land and lives we attempted to bulldoze over.  However, I do see the power of gratitude as salve in troubling times.

And these are certainly troubled times in this country with such amazing potential; but where even now people -  good people – are sitting around a table with those they have not seen since last year and desperately hoping certain subjects of conversation never come up and that some kind of harmony can be maintained. 

(And, since it did come up, yes, I am still grumpy about the infamous “childless cat lady” comments.  That one I took personal.  But, before I get sidetracked with an unhelpful tirade and contribute to the overall problem, let’s return to the subject at hand: thanksgiving and gratitude.)

Today, I started a new personal tradition.  One that suits my solitary, almost reclusive personality.  I bundled up in coat, gloves and hat to visit one of the sources of all life: the Missouri river.

Water.  Without it, life is impossible.  Sitting on a bench, watching the precious nectar flow by, I pulled my hood up and huddled deeper in my coat.  Water.  I use it from everything to brushing my teeth to fixing the cup of tea I’m sipping as I write this. 

Thank you, I thought to the mighty River as it carried on its way.

For all you do. For all you give:  Gratitude.

For all our willful destruction:  Sorrow.

Show gratitude to Mother Earth and to Friend River.  Take care of them, and they will take care of you.

False.

Before I go any further about pets, perhaps I should make a full confession:

I am a childless cat (and plant) lady.  What of it?

Now that we got that out of the way, we continue on regarding people’s pets.  Specifically the urban legend regarding immigrants (in this case, Haitian) stealing and eating people beloved cats.

Uhm, yeh.  I head this one before, from a dude I worked with very briefly at a warehouse when I first moved into the area.  Only in that case it was “The Chinese.”  And it was dogs.  And that was nearly TWENTY-FIVE years ago.

In other words, that myth has been around for a long, long time and probably has a hundred variations.

Further back in time, over in Europe, the stories were not of the (insert most recent out-of-favor immigrant group here) eating neighborhood cats, or dogs, or whatever.  The stories were of Jews catching and eating pets.  Jews were the group being demonized.  And given what happened in Europe in the 30’s and 40’s….that puts things in a whole other perspective, doesn’t it?  (I better see some heads bobbing ‘yes.’)

But, certainly, my savvy readers, you can smell BS when someone tries to hand it to you.