Thanksgiving Morning Open Thread

This is one of Rockwell's most famous works, and it resonates with me because the title says one thing, but the painting says much more. Yes...Americans work hard to create the wealth that puts food on our tables, but the equivalent painting of a well-off family in Soviet era Russia would have none of the smiles and the peace and the infinite possibilities that Rockwell is showing me.

This is the America that many of us remember, and this is the America that so many of us strive for. The scolds and the cranks and the naysayers would have us look at this depiction of America and scoff at its lily-whiteness, and its ignorance of others' traditions. And the implicit this and that, and all of the things that they use to separate us.

I see America. And had Rockwell painted the same scene in a Black community of the 1950s, it would have looked remarkably similar. Yet we have come a long way since that time, some of it regression to a meaner and less respectful society, but there is much to be thankful for.

And today at the Thanksgiving table I am going to try my hardest to point out gently that our new political paradigm has many things that should be attractive to anyone who loves America. And that now is a time to sit back and wait and watch and then judge results, not rhetoric or contentious post-election posturing.

And then I am going to eat my juniper and sage brined roast pork!

To The Horde...a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

posted by CBD at 09:45 AM

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