I am presently ‘snow birding’ in the Sunshine State, which often and most generously, offers clear blue skies and warm temperatures. Last Sunday, however, I returned to the Nutmeg State, with its seasonally cool temperatures and cloudy skies, to attend church virtually. Reverend Diane Seaborn, Senior Pastor of the Storrs Congregational Church on the campus of the University of Connecticut, was both entertaining and inspirational in delivering a well-crafted Thanksgiving sermon. Of significant spiritual import was her heads up on a scholarly study, done by two university professors, Thomas Gilovich, Ph.D. from Cornell and Lee Ross, Ph.D., from Stanford. The article was printed in Psychology Today. (November 15, 2015) The title of the article is “Life’s Headwinds and Tailwinds.” The following paragraphs were very helpful to me as I approach this Thanksgiving holiday:
Think of it this way: When you’re cycling or running into a stiff wind, you’re made aware of it gust after gust. You might even say to yourself, “I can’t wait until the course changes direction, and I have a wind at my back.” And when the wind finally is at your back, you’re grateful—for a moment. But you quickly adapt to it and soon fail to notice it’s even there.
What’s true of headwinds and tailwinds is more broadly true of the benefits we receive and the obstacles we must overcome in many areas of life. Like headwinds, obstacles are “in our face,” reminding us of their existence, because we have to attend to them in order to overcome them. Many of our benefits and privileges, in contrast, are easy to lose sight of because we typically don’t have to attend to them. We just profit from them.
This Thanksgiving, as our nation watches as the honorable presidency of Joe Biden transitions to the unprecedented corruption and character bankrupt administration of Donald Trump, I must confess that I am more preoccupied with the ‘headwinds,’ soon to be experienced as gust after gust than I am of the blessings at my back. I’m still obsessively processing the lessons to be learned from this election. For me, it is nightmarish to think that such a man as flawed as DJT will again occupy the oval office and authorize a campaign of revenge against personal, political and judicial critics from there. In my view, his threats of deportation for millions of immigrants and their families are inhumane. The list of vulgar things that he has said and done is arguably endless. The most bothersome aspect of this process and one that tortures me like no other headwind is what the results of the election says of us as a people and especially as a people of faith. I wrote the following two paragraphs in my journal over the last couple of weeks.
First, James Carville, the trusted and sometimes successful political strategist of many campaigns, said before the election that he believed that Harris would win. He believed that because he just couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that a majority of the electorate would vote for a person who has failed and fallen far short of meeting the accepted measures of CHARACTER. Trump is a twice impeached but not convicted former president, a man found liable for sexual assault, yes, sexual assault, and the subsequent defamation of the victim, a man convicted on 34 counts of fraud, a sitting but defeated president who would not honor the peaceful transition of power (J-6) ; instead instigated an insurrection. Throughout his life, he has been a liar and a cheat and while president, he was the LIAR IN CHIEF. Carville would not and could not believe that a majority (now a winning plurality) of the electorate would vote for a man, who throughout the campaign acted and talked in such a vulgar, insulting, immoral and angry way. 48.8% did!
Second, I don’t often agree with Bret Stevens, a columnist and commentator for the NYT, but on November 19th , he wrote a piece that was insightful and on point. In it, he cites a oft-quoted essay by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, written some 30 years ago, titled “Defining Deviancy Down.” Commenting on the character of Trump and what the launch of his administration is revealing, he titled this piece: “Defining Deviancy Down, And Down, And Down.” One of the key lines: “Perspectives would shift. Standards would fall. And people would get used to it.” We are there again.
I think that this is an issue/question, which stands on its own, and to my mind has not been sufficiently addressed. How can someone, anyone, overlook or “normalize” the immoral views, behaviors and language of this man. I would hope that this issue/question would be the very first bar that a candidate would have to get over or the most essential quality for elective office. Obviously and sadly, a winning plurality of the electorate didn’t care, and discarded it as an influencing factor. It should have been a disqualifying one. I think that Carlos Lozado’s op-ed in the New York Times had it right: let’s not ‘pretend that Trump is not who we are.’ Indeed, enough have fallen in line, revealing that it is okay to be who he is and for us to be like him. Too many of the electorate listened not to what Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature,” rather they chose the worst, listening to whatever voices they had in their ears that justified the dismissal of CHARACTER AND GOODNESS/VIRTUE as essential factors in deciding for whom to vote and how that vote might reveal who we are.
These are major headwinds for me this thanksgiving, and its not good to have my focus on them during this wonderfully “American” holiday. So, I set them aside this day and turn my heartfelt attention to the tailwinds in my life.
So what are my tailwinds, not so much the ‘benefits’ but I prefer to call, the ‘blessings’ that push me forward? Oprah Winfry once said of this process:
I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.
This sounds like what Gilovich and Lee were referring to as the identifiable ‘benefits’ that make up the tailwinds of our life experience. Traditional thanksgiving admonitions usually include: “Count your Blessings.” Where do we start?
The apostle Paul, writing to his beloved brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, gave these words of encouragement and admonition:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18; NRSV)
There are many in the faith community, i.e. scholars, preachers and believers of all stripes, who believe that this commandment is among the most difficult in the bible. “Give thanks in all circumstances.” In other words, give thanks when the headwinds are hardest? Give thanks when moving forward is the toughest? How? Why?
Let‘s take the second question first. Why? The most important answer to this question is simple: because this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. God’s will for us is not that we just survive when buffed most by the obstacles in life but that we thrive. The capacity to thrive begins in a thankful heart, a heart that counts all the little blessings that join to blow at our backs to move us forward on the quickest path to joy.
The New York Times bestselling Christian author, Jefferson Bethke, wrote:
Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy.
Now, the first question second: How? Well, how are our powers of attention and counting skills? Are we capable of seeing and valuing those blessings that make our lives so special, if not abundant?
- The gifts of faith and a sense of God’s will for us.
- The wonderful joys of family and the expanded and extravagantly inclusive sense of community.
- The spirit of generosity that shows itself in the giver, the gifts and the difference both make in another’s life.
- The health we know, the challenges we face with courage that make us stronger and the empathy we discover within ourselves, an empathy that enables us to care and truly connect with others.
- The blessings of heart and hearth as families, friends and neighbors gather in a spirit of being thankful for each other, from the oldest to the youngest. We just rejoiced over the birth of our newest- Isaac!
- I’m watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the rain. What a wonderful metaphor for the celebration of the tailwinds at our back! I love watching one performance after another beneath the watchful eye of Tom Turkey. One wonderful float after another. A parade of blessings, cheerleaders and spectacular marching bands from high schools and universities, Broadway performers dancing and singing the songs that uplift and inspire, The Rockettes and Riverdance, beloved television shows like Sesame Street and Disney, SpongeBob/SquarePants, and representatives from Wicked and Bluey, Teenage Ninja Turtles, singing: “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and so many more that entertain and challenge us to think bigger and live larger in meaningful and more humane ways. The parade goes on and on, doesn’t it? What a joy!
I hope that each of our Thanksgivings involves a parade of sorts, a parade of blessings for which we are truly and deeply grateful. What a tailwind they create and commit to move us forward on the path to feeling such joy in our lives and about of lives. This is surely God’s will for us in Jesus Christ.
Let me close with a quote from Marian Wright Edelman:
So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.
Let us not forget to be thankful for all that has been done and who did it.