Thanksgiving 2017: There is much to be thankful for

• You might see faces around a sumptuous table and realize many generations are looking back at you.
• Keel Hunt is a Tennessean columnist. Reach him at Keel@TSGNashville.com.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

It is a time to reflect, count our blessings, find a quiet break from the rising velocity of life, to remember what is good and right with the world — and to have gratitude for it all.

There is much that worries us this November, true, but there is also much that merits our thanks: our freedom, our country, our planet; grandchildren, most dogs, some cats; schools, churches, hospitals; the air we breathe, and the wildlife that abounds in Tennessee’s lakes, streams, mountains and hills.

On Thanksgiving, if you’re fortunate, you see the faces around a sumptuous table and realize two or three, maybe even four generations are looking back at you. Each person sitting there, young or old, is a part of the tangled story of our own lives — and we of theirs.

In all the diversity of our cities and nation, it is good to celebrate the roots of our own families, wherever your ancestors hailed from, back in the time before history.

We may remember the smiles of loved ones who are gone now. We say the grace for them also. We think of loved ones far away who for whatever reason could not make it home this year.

Some daughters and sons will not be at the table because they serve on duty in dangerous places, deployed with our armed forces. Especially for them, we are thankful and hold them in our hearts.

Let us be grateful for all the families who make time to lend a helping hand to others.

Some stand in serving lines at homeless shelters, or they run in half-marathons to raise money to help others in need. Or they search our streets in the dark of night and bring those who suffer in from the cold.

(I also love Christmas, just as you may love all the holiday traditions and rituals of your own faith and family. But those December days can remind us of divisions across our country, and the extremists who reside in all religions with no thoughts of peace in their hearts. Thanksgiving is ever about grace and togetherness and thanks.)

From my own earliest years, I remember Thanksgiving dinners on the grounds of our ancestral family home in Jackson County, Tenn.

There would be stories and games, laughter and fun. As dinnertime drew near, the men would stretch long ropes between sturdy trees and cover them with quilts. These rectangular contraptions became outdoor serving tables (weather permitting, and in my memory it always did).

Upon these, the women who had made magic in the kitchen would place dishes of food for a king’s feast.

My forebears were neither kings nor queens, but they were what Jesus called the salt of the earth.

Later on, I most remember Thanksgivings in Nashville at my grandmothers’ and my mother’s own tables, on the east side of the river. And time further passed and, just as I once was a grandchild, nowadays in my own home there are new grandchildren about.

Our current Thanksgiving rituals include piling onto the sofa to watch the Macy’s parade, from Manhattan, and the national dog show from Philadelphia. For me, these precious hours with little ones are the happiest times on earth.

Next Thursday, the conversations around Tennessee’s dinner tables may well touch on politics. It has been that kind of year. But if we’re lucky any arguments will be painless and quick.

May our homes on Thursday be oases from the rabble of politicians and the babble of news media. May all that electronic noise and fury subside for just a little while.
Or if it won’t, let’s remember the “off” switch and choose our separate peace.

Keel Hunt is a Tennessean columnist. Reach him at Keel@TSGNashville.com.