Thanksgiving
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 11.22.2017
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is a special time to remember the arrival of immigrants into US, the hospitality of Native Americans, and the friendship between new and old neighbors. It is also a time to harvest and to give thanks, with family members near and far.
We are lucky that such a wonderful holiday has not totally fallen victim to commercialization and merchandizing like many other holidays. I hope Black Friday will stay as an after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy for Christmas, and will not creep into the Thanksgiving family gathering period.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our lives, our objectives, the “big rocks” we care about, and the promises we have made to others and to ourselves. More importantly, this is the time to give thanks to all the people who have touched our lives: our family, teachers, friends, colleagues, the many service people in the restaurants and retail industry, postal workers, housecleaners, police officers, firefighters, flight attendants, and many more. Our lives have been made better, safer, and more enjoyable by so many people in our society. We are indeed a big family in the planet Earth.
Thanksgiving is also a great time to take stock of what we have all around us. Every day, in various ways, we are blessed with nice smiles, good deeds, helping hands, hearty laughs, warm greetings, good books, insightful comments, new discoveries, a beautiful sunrise and sunset, chirping birds, and children’s screams of joy. Let’s capture and count all the blessings endowed upon us.
On this special day, my biggest thanks goes to my family for filling my heart with joy and warmth. My thanks also goes to my many friends and colleagues, old and new, who have enriched my growth and my life in more ways than they realize.
Happy Thanksgiving.
感恩節快樂!
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
感恩節是我最喜歡的節日。這讓我想起剛到美國的移民、接受到在地印地安人的好客熱情、串起了老鄰居和新鄰居的特別友誼。這也是個與家人們共度收穫和感恩的時刻，不論他們来自身邊還是遠方。
慶幸的是，這樣美好的假期並沒有像其他假期一樣，淪為商品化或商業型式下的犧牲品。希望‘黑色星期五’只是个在感恩節後的聖誕節購物狂，而不會影响正在享受感恩節慶的家庭团聚。
感恩節是个好机会，我們可以反思自己的生活、自己的目標，我們關心的”大石頭”，以及我們曾經对別人或自己所做過的承諾。
更重要的是，現在是要向所有在日常生活中帮助我們的人致謝的時候；包括我們的家人、老師、朋友、同事、警察、消防人員、空姐，以及許多在商店、餐廳、郵局、家居、的服務人員們。谢谢你们。 讓我們的生活變得更好、更安全、也讓更多人感受到所居住的這個社會的美好；讓我們一起生活在地球這個大家庭中。
感恩節也是个好時機，来環顧我們的好福氣。我們是否每一天周遭都有著可亲的笑容、做好事的人、伸出援手、擁有歡笑、溫暖的問候、看本好書、听到些見地的評論、有新的發現、看到日出和日落的美、聽到鳥叫、以及孩子們的嘻鬧聲。讓我們一起抓住這些賦予給自己的歡樂！
在這個特別的日子裡，我感謝我的家人，讓我心中充满了溫暖與歡樂。我還要感謝許多朋友和同事，不論是新的還是舊的，他們豐富了我的生活，遠超過他們自己所能想像到的。在此对大家感恩。
祝感恩節快樂!
