Turkey day in the Philippines

On Thanksgiving day (Nov 23rd) some family members hosted a “Thanksgiving” dinner for the whole family. Note: we live in the Philippines.

Family Context: It seems I’ll be writing about my family in my posts so I’ll set this now that I’m mostly talking about my dad’s side of the family. And I’ll say so if I’m writing about anyone else.

Back on topic!

We don’t actually celebrate “American Thanksgiving” we’re Filipinos, our thanksgiving should be July 4 (for July 4, 1946), the day we were finally free from our American colonizers.

(I’m trying my hardest not to get on a rant about how I absolutely hate our colonizers, but it’s off topic so I’ll bite my tongue.)

The reason the hosting family, let’s call them the Lopezes, for having the dinner was to “share blessings” and celebrate the family. They said that they hope to maintain the tradition every year. It was lovely and I found myself thinking “Finally, people who want to maintain family tradition.”

And despite my opinions and feelings about our colonizers, there are lots of good things they brought to my country and lots of other things people bring from there. One of them being Thanksgiving. Never mind what really happened to start the whole tradition, the baby shouldn’t be thrown out with the bath water.

The dinner showed me that, despite what anyone goes through in the year, it’s important to stay grateful for what you have. And if you can’t do that:

1. Think of everything you have.

2. Think of those who don’t have them.

Envy

There’s a common phrase in my country. “Sana all”. It means “I wish everyone had/was/is/whatever”. Interestingly enough, when someone says “sana all”, they really don’t mean “all” because if everyone had that thing, it wouldn’t be so desirable anymore lol.

But there’s a type of person who always, and I mean ALWAYS says sana all and it’s sad.

“The secret of happiness is low expectations.” -Barry Schwartz

“Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.” -Anne Lamont

I say sad because they are. I’ve encountered people like this. They seem to always be sad, and worse, resentful. Resentful towards someone, a situation, or an event that they don’t have control over. And what really hammers the nail in is that they don’t take action. They stay resentful but don’t do anything to change anything. It’s like they like the feeling of holding vitriol. Then again, it is addictive.

Tradition

That’s why, among a plethora of other great reasons, I think family and tradition shouldn’t be so easily done away with. Unless your family is a toxic hell hole. Though a balance of poisonous ingredients makes a dish delicious lololol.

Having a family tradition around gratitude, among other values, reminds you of what you have and what others don’t.

All of this is, of course, not to say that you shouldn’t be motivated to greater things, excellence, and prosperity. But we shouldn’t be so quick to say “sana all” to the hollow shell of the next Jones family you see.

Stop the envy, be grateful, do better.