Things to be thankful for
Posted November 20, 2001. On Thursday (November 22), Americans (and for that matter, Filipinos in America, and in most cases, Filipinos in the Philippines who used to live in America) pause to celebrate and enjoy a most sacred national holiday, Thanksgiving, a day of dispensing gratitude and consuming culinary delights including a big, white, tasteless bird.
Thanksgiving Day is probably the most anticipated holiday in America, although any day off from work is generally good. It is the only holiday that's neither religious nor political and everybody celebrates it. There's probably no reason not to. Each one of us has at least something to thank for. In a country where relatives live far apart, this is also a time when you can get together, share a few laughs while partaking the usual and very symbolic roast turkey, among other edible things that will surely throw your diet regimen out the window.
The turkey (big, white meat, and yes, tasteless) has become synonymous with Thanksgiving, it is sometimes called Turkey Day. But why turkey? Why not lamb or roast pig, or well, chicken? Although turkey is available throughout the year in grocery stores, it is on Thanksgiving that several hundred pounds of them are consumed, and several thousand pounds more of turkey leftovers are consumed in succeeding days.
It is widely believed that the very first Thanksgiving feast consisted of corn, barley, and fowls, which may have included wild turkeys. The date of the First Thanksgiving is not precisely known though it occurred between September 21 and November 9, 1621. A group of Pilgrims settled on Plymouth (somewhere in Massachusetts) and dined with the Indians (Native Americans), to give thanks for having survived journey amidst stormy seas. The Indians, showing hospitality, treated the visitors with whatever food they have stored in preparation for a long winter. The turkey may have been the only fowl available when the Indians were searching for food to serve. As wild as they were it was not probably that hard to chase them. My father used to have several turkeys and one of my favorite hobbies as a child was chasing them. I once hit one in the head with a slingshot. The poor bird went into some kind of a seizure and died. My father never knew about what happened. I am confessing now just to get that out of my chest. (Speaking of slingshots, while I was an undergraduate living in a boarding house at Magsaysay Village in La Paz, I have heard from my boardmates who were members of Class 1988 that they have a female classmate surnamed 'Slingshot'. I thought it was interesting then. I checked the alumni list about a week ago and there was no one with that family name. Can anybody from Class 1988 clarify this for me? Thank you in advance.)
That very first Thanksgiving which inspired this annual American tradition lasted for 3 days, according to accounts. Nothing was mentioned if they just ate turkey meat during those 3 days. This 'First Thanksgiving' was actually a secular event that was not repeated. However, Thanksgiving days have occurred since then, not necessarily involving sharing food with Native Americans or eating roast turkey. In 1863, the Thanksgiving Day that Americans still celebrate today was declared (again no mention of that big, white tasteless bird).
This is our sixth Thanksgiving as a family here in the U.S., four of those years with our daughter. We will again celebrate this year's Thanksgiving with just the 3 of us. We don't have any relatives here in the U.S. My father told me once that he has a cousin who left the Philippines for the U.S. in 1968 but they have made little contact since then. The last time my father heard about him was about 2 years ago. He is supposed to be in West Virginia but I am quite hesitant to search or make contact. Besides, I don't know where Virginia is in the U.S. map. The only Virginia that immediately comes to my mind is Dr. Marco Fermindoza (Class 1990), whose 'monicker' when he joined the annual 'Miss Medi-sin' was 'Virginia Brokenhymen'.
We have friends, yes, but they will also be in their respective homes with their respective families and relatives celebrating. Because of a very small Filipino community here, we usually see this same set of friends at every party we attend. Just last week we attended a baby shower and we had 'karaoke' until the wee hours of the morning. For those of you who honed their vocal cords at 'karaoke' joints in Iloilo like I did, you probably very well remember Tap at Sarabia Manor, Buddy's Bar at Residence Inn, the one beside Hotel del Rio (I couldn't recall the name), even Nena's Manokan had a 'karaoke' section. And for those with fat wallets or had attended one of the drug companies' junkets, you very well know Sandpipers. I heard that there's more to just 'karaoke' in that place.
Needless to say, we did not have turkey the past five years. My wife insisted we should have turkey this year since my daughter is already in pre-school and they are being taught the association between Thanksgiving and turkey other than they both begin with the letter "t". At least I'll be able to prove just how tasteless this bird really is. I went grocery shopping for a smaller turkey the other day (not too big to last 6 months for the 3 of us) and how glad I was when I found one that's actually just as big as the biggest chicken you can find. I found out later that it was only turkey breast. Darn.
Anyway, before I get more and more personal, let me thank you for having 'helped' maintain this site since its inception in November, 1998 (yehey, we're 3 years old). If only I can share with you this big-ass turkey we are preparing (I'll try if I can post pictures next week). You may not have noticed it but regular visitors like you inspire me to continue maintaining the site as well as continue to write these dumb things I've been writing. The main objective of this website is to bring alumni closer together and although most of you don't visit the site on a regular basis, we are actually close to that objective. More than 200 alumni have signed up at the Web Directory. Most of these alumni may not come back to the site soon mainly due to lack of Internet access but having known that there is a site just for them is enough. There are about 10 of you who visit the site on a daily basis and more than 30 on a weekly basis (not including first-time visitors) and for that I thank all of you. And thanks for the e-mails too. Please remember that you are a part of this site and your comments and suggestions are always welcome (including, yes, how to make a turkey taste good).
I also would like to thank the Alumni Association and its officers for giving me this opportunity to somehow serve and give back to our institution. Frankly speaking, this makes my life here at the office a little less boring. This helps me meet a lot of fellow alumni too, even if it is only by e-mail. I have a lot of names to mention including those who have e-mailed me, but I might miss some of you. You know who you are.
I have a lot more things to thank for and I hope you will bear with me. To my loving wife, Jeanie, for putting up with me, and our 4-year old daughter, Claudine (who'll definitely grow up smarter than her Dad. With my IQ, there's nowhere to go but up). To Lopid, for keeping my cholesterol to normal levels. To DirecTV and NBA League Pass, for all 82 games of the Los Angeles Lakers this year. To the Filipino Channel. To the Filipino store, for the siopao, salted eggs, and the frozen 'katumbal' leaves. To the phone cards, I can call Iloilo for 10 cents a minute. To Hong Ning restaurant, for the lomi and siomai. To Globe and Smart cellphones, we can call our parents anytime (they still refuse to 'text'). To the Internet. To....The list is endless, I'll end this while I can.
With the events of September 11, this year's Thanksgiving may not be normal as usual. Yet, there are some things we should be thankful for. It made us realize how fragile life is and not take it for granted. It made us closer together, to our own families and our neighbors. No matter what those war critics say, we should thank the very people right now who are fighting this war for us. Terrorists may escape, shave their beards, and put on some deodorant, but at least we know that somebody is on their tail who will eventually set their sorry asses on fire.
The news this morning said that because of so many duplications, the official number of those who died in the World Trade Center attacks has gone down to 3,900. Considering that the two towers employ more than 40,000 people, that is certainly a welcome news.
Happy Thanksgiving - indeed.
TODAY'S LAST WORDS:
E-mail the author at drgarcia@wvsumedaa.com
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