Before we jump into the actual 'meat' of Thanksgiving Part 1, I'd just like to hit on some of the more recent and relevant things that have been going on up at Purdue in the past week. First and most importantly, basketball season officially kicked off last Sunday night! The Boilers are sitting on a 2-0 record as of now and we all know that the left side of that column is only going to keep going up. Even without Robbie Hummel, I have been surprised by how well the Boilers have played, and I think that we have some serious talent in the freshman class, which is always promising for the years to come.
This week went back to normal temperature wise. Cold. Anyone who was a true fan and endured the hardship of last weekend's game against Michigan deserves a huge round of applause. I hate to mention that I almost left early, but it is true. My roommate convinced me otherwise, and my hands weren't very appreciative when they were frozen as I was walking back. But, all-in-all, it was worth it. Last weekend, I got to sit down with two awesome guys at Greyhouse and just talk about life. You never really know how much you have to talk about until you actually begin talking. It's a cool feeling to make new friends, and an even cooler one when you know that you have so far to go with these new friendships. Anyways, that was a really good time.
The funny thing about Thanksgiving is that for such a seemingly trivial holiday, it has probably had the most anticipation on campus of any holiday, break, or event so far. I've talked to kids who have counted the exact number of classes until they get off, or even the total number of hours until they can leave. As I started thinking about this, I realized that Thanksgiving was actually a lot deeper than I was giving it credit for, especially for those who live away from their families. There are some college students who really haven't seen their families or their friends since they came up here in August, and so for them, this Thanksgiving is so much more than just the usual merry company and tasty food. For others, it's a chance to see relatives that you wouldn't normally see, or a time to just relax and not worry about anything. Whatever your reason for enjoying Thanksgiving this year, make sure that you make the most of it. Reflect on those things that you are thankful for and take time to appreciate all that you have been given.
As I started getting into the Thanksgiving mood, one of the things that you naturally do is start making a list of the things that you are thankful for. Whether you get five things on that list or 100, naming things that you are thankful for or things that make you happy always makes you feel a little bit better. However, for the sake of Thanksgiving Part 1, I have decided to go through and make a list of all of the things that I am NOT thankful for, and then see if I can find ways of why I should be thankful for those things. Because in reality, we should be thankful for life in general. Life isn't perfect. It has its bumps and cracks. But we are living. We are functioning, thinking, breathing, acting, running, laughing, crying, loving, and feeling. We are living. We are beautifully and wonderfully made with care. We are a creation. We are loved, cared for, thought about, cried for, trusted, desired, listened to, honored, and all together needed. So those things that we think we aren't thankful for, well we'll see about those, starting with my own personal list.
I am not thankful for: Waking up.
If you know me at all, you probably know that I am a night owl and that I haaaaaaaate to wake up. I despise mornings with a passion that is hard to match. However, as I was thinking about this terrible action, I had to realize that the act of waking up is kind of like a chalkboard erasure. With each new sunrise, there is a new day and brand new things to accomplish, people to meet, or fun to be had. I really like the chalkboard erasure analogy, because if you have OCD like me, you are/were always upset at the chalk dust/ chalk lines that the erasure just seemed not to be able to get. Even if you erased over a certain area, you could still almost always see a faint outline of what was there before. It's the same way with life. Even though every day is a 'clean slate,' there are still things from our past that linger with us, that we can't quite seem to erase. Nobody is the perfect artist, that is why we each get an unlimited amount of erasures because we can never truly draw the perfect day.
I am not thankful for: freezing cold temperatures.
I do not think it is humanly possible to enjoy the feeling of your fingers being so cold that they could snap like toothpicks. Buuut, think about it. If we didn't have cold, we wouldn't know the feeling of snuggling up next to a fire with a blanket and some hot chocolate. We would never get that awesome feeling of being wrapped from head to toe in a blanket. We would never see the wonders of snow, or the joys of building a snowman or other great things that accompany freezing cold temperatures.
I am not thankful for: people who do not listen.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone who you are clearly trying to talk to is not paying attention to you whether it is on purpose or not. The "ahem, clear throat, cough twice" trick can only be done so much until you just want to grab the person by the front of their shirt and demand that they listen. Buuut, think about it. These people who annoy us so much by not listening are the ones that teach us just how important it is to listen. This goes along with the concept that we never truly know how important something is until we actually want or need that thing. Listening is a huge skill that we take for granted, and I am sure that we all have at one point in time been the person that is just too busy to listen. Well, now we may not be!
This list could go on, and I am sure that each and every one of you have things that you are not thankful for. However, as I quickly found out, if you look back at those things, you can begin to realize and piece together ways that you are in fact thankful. Even the most minute actions that seem to get us down can in some way be taken for a positive light. I guess it all comes down to perspective. We have the ability to cast our own perspective on life, and because of that, some of us are a lot more thankful than others. So on this Thanksgiving day, before you sit down and make a list of the things that you are thankful for, make a list of all of the things that you are not thankful for. As you make this list, you will soon realize that there aren't as many things that you might have thought. So many 'problems' that we experience are so trivial compared to what most people go through on a daily basis. We are not thankful that we have to ride our bike when others can drive. We aren't thankful that we can only afford to eat at these restaurants while our neighbors can eat at these nice fancy ones. At least we can get something to eat. So make your list. Mull it over. Think about how each thing that you are not thankful for actually helps you in your life, and think about where you would be if you didn't go through what you do.
So, that basically wraps up my thoughts in Thanksgiving Part 1. I know that it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but trust me, I only have 9 more classes or 13 more hours of school work until break! Make sure that this weekend you live with purpose and be safe!
Closing tip for the week: This weekend, Inception is playing at the Stuart Center on Friday and Saturday night. If you haven't seen this movie, I would recommend going to go see it. Students are free with their student ID's, and it is definitely worth it!
Closing quote for the week: "The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." ~H.U. Westermayer
Throwing up the NW333 and riding a wheelie with the Easy Rider,
Signing off,
JD
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