In 1621, 53 Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation thanked 90 Native People for helping them survive the brutal New England winter. The (debatably) first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days and consisted of fish and shellfish, wild fowl, venison, berries and fruit, vegetables, harvest grains, and the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize or corn, and squash. Gratitude was directly linked to survival and harvest.

We live in 2011, a year broadcasting continuing economic bad news, droughts and fires and floods, Congress Members focusing more on positioning their parties than on cooperating to solve the nation’s issues, extended unemployment, two ongoing wars, school volunteers packing food into children’s backpacks on Friday afternoons so the kids will have something to eat over the weekend, and the 10th anniversary of September 11.

How hard is it sort out the gratitude in each day? Here in our neighborhood of Palm Heights (elevation 14’), we’re starting a small Thanksgiving Revolution. We want to make Thanksgiving 2011 one that we’ll remember long after the tryptophanic sleep-inducing effects of turkey. We’re having a neighborhood dinner that will feature our personal answers to the following two questions: 1. What are we most grateful for? 2. How do we and the people around us know when we’re feeling grateful and acting with gratitude?

Since I’m one of the drivers of our small Thanksgiving Revolution, I’m privy to what some of the answers our neighbors will share on November 24.

Here is a sample:
Judy Mullins, age 67: “I’m convinced that gratefulness is a unique predictor of wellbeing. My husband, Rick, is a cancer survivor. What cancer taught us is the importance of both frequency and intensity of appreciation for quality each day. The people around us can tell when we’re grateful and when we’re not. When we’re grateful we consciously work at recognizing the significance and value of everything from our dog appearing to worry about Rick to not allowing ourselves to be resentful that cancer found us instead of someone else. We’re convinced our gratitude is now part of Rick’s wellbeing.”

Steve Pico, age 56: “Our life is full of kids and bustling with their activities. Five years from now the kids will be gone and we’ll have an empty house. I’m convinced my wife will fall apart, at least for a while. So I’m grateful every day for being present in these irreplaceable years. People around me know I’m grateful because at least once every day I tell them so. I’ve discovered that if I fail to tell them, I feel less deeply grateful. Funny how that works isn’t it?”

Elizabeth Brown, age 84: “I’m most grateful for my health and fitness. It doesn’t just happen, of course. I still play the saxophone, eat with health in mind, walk and swim almost every day, and take weekly hula lessons. I know I’m living gratefully when I exercise daily and do at least one spontaneous and random act of kindness each day. No one else needs to know, but I know and these are my commitments.”

Timothy Dempsey, age 9 (visiting grandson of Chris and Bonnie Dempsey): “I am grateful for still being tucked in at night when I stay with my grandparents. At home I think I’m too big to have my parents tuck me in. With my grandparents it’s different. I don’t know why, but it makes me feel really cozy. How everyone knows I’m grateful when I visit is I always volunteer to help do the dishes, something I wouldn’t do at home in a million, million, million years.”

Sara Caldwell, age 74: “Most of you think of me as the neighborhood eccentric with my pink plastic flamingos in my front yard arranged artfully among the Bismarck Palms and the seasonal get-out-the-vote signs. This Thanksgiving I want you to know what I’m really thankful for. I’m thankful my grandson is home safely from Iraq, and I can finally sleep all night again. I’m grateful for not being an invisible older woman. I’m grateful to you for being my neighbors and friends. Those pink flamingos and seasonal signs are me holding my hand up in the air saying “Here I Am, Gratitude And All!” The day they disappear you will know I’m done.”

All of us here in Palm Heights wish you and yours the very best Thanksgiving ever. We all encourage you—before you serve your Thanksgiving meal—to ask each person to share his/her personal answer to the two questions above. You’ll find it the best grace ever, fitting for Thanksgiving.