I'm especially sorry for the fact that the good people who live there, two former colleagues and their young daughter, a sweet child who was born in China, are moving to New York soon. Sometime during dinner tonight, I will raise my glass an inch or two higher, and offer a silent toast. I will give profound thanks for my family, so scattered now but always in my mind. I'll remember how lucky I am to have such good friends, and a profession that rewards me with constant challenges and learning. I will celebrate my vast good fortune in this life, and vow to remember, every day of every year I have left, how privileged I am to have so much in a world where most people have so little.
Thanksgiving is by far the best American holiday, at least in spirit.
But in our greedy, oblivious way, we have turned it into a sybaritic festival of gluttony and shopping. We need more pilgrims, and fewer turkeys. They embark on journeys to new, perhaps unfriendly places, with vision transcending fear. Their staying power and moral convictions take them far beyond self-centered hunger for wealth and power. Sometimes I suspect that America, awash in pettiness and greed and smugness, has all but lost its sense of exploration and wonder.