Hardships, gratitude, and talking turkey

The first Thanksgiving feast went on for three days...

(with only about 50 surviving Pilgrims). And I have now officially written three Thanksgiving season blogs.  That tale of persistence and survival is not quite as famous or inspirational, but it's an interesting fact regardless.

As I sat down to write, I realized that the coming years are going to be tough ones for all of us here in the "new land."  The same basic principles that led to the Pilgrims' survival will separate the wheat from the chaff (or the husks from the niblets) as we navigate through this "frigid economy." 

• First, the Pilgrims met (and welcomed) Samoset and Squanto.  These two cool Native American dudes taught the settlers how to hunt and farm.  Lesson learned = do not be afraid to talk to strangers if they seem knowledgeable...even if they are wearing feathers and animal skins.  Although you've been in business for a while, you can always learn something new from an outsider.
• The Pilgrims were non-conformists.  In fact, their unwillingness to follow authority is what brought them here in the first place.  Lesson learned = people who are willing to break a few rules usually do better than those who just stick to the straight path.  (They did, however, believe that some people were damned from the get-go, which is an interesting notion...and probably not too far from the truth.  They also had a pretty tough punishment system for sinners.)
• Their feast consisted of items from all the major food groups.  (Who knew that fish was served at the first Thanksgiving?  But there was no pie...they didn't have sugar.  They only had water to drink.  They also couldn't watch football because they didn't have cable or iPods.  Lesson learned = healthy eating is always a good thing, and you really don't need TV to be happy.
• Most important, if you want to learn a life lesson from these settlers, you need to take the time to relax, enjoy friends and family, and say some kind of blessing (even if you are damned).

To all my clients, colleagues, friends, sherpas, mentors, Squantos and other loved and respected folk...

Thank you for reading my blogs, sharing my faith in my own Pilgrim dream, and teaching me to hunt and fish.  We can make it through the harsh winter ahead!

 

Comments

[Anna]

I thoroughly enjoyed your "personal take" on the first Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends.