The miracle directly responsible for making me The Luckiest Guy I Know said “how many Thanksgiving’s do you think we’ll see for @foodfightfriday?” Good question. With the amount of people on Steemit from America, the only country who celebrates the anniversary, I think it’s safe to say ‘more than one.’
For those of you just tuning in, we’ve been #traveliving (I made that hashtag up myself) outside of the United States since the beginning of this year. We started in Central America and continued into South America for a total of six months though we originally planned on staying one year. However, the Spanish community down there was so disrespectful, rude, unwelcoming, and every other adjective you can think of to describe ‘hateful’ toward people who look and talk like us, we not only couldn’t get out there fast enough, we now have no desire to even visit Spain—disappointing is an understatement. It was that bad. People have told us “No, Spain is nothing like Central or South America, they’re European—totally different!” My response is, ‘I’ll just take your wOrd for it’ but I’m telling you now, if you plan on us getting together in Spain, you’re going to need to change your flight plans to Portugal or Morocco or something.
Stick with me. My intention is to make this article a peaceful one because I’ve received several memes and snide reviews regarding Christopher Columbus and Native Americans over the past week or two directly attributed to the Thanksgiving celebration in my home country and, quite frankly, I’ve had enough.
We’ve met many people from many different pieces of our shared round or flat or squared, oblong, something shaped surface since beginning this tour. While in Central and South America we stayed inside a lot. The times we spent on the beaches or exercising or just trying to sight see, we were too busy being guarded to protect ourselves from cunning thievery, we didn’t have many opportunities to meet new people. We met a Canadian couple who tricked us into believing they were nice only to find out they were liars. We met a couple from San Francisco, Pura’s hometown, they learned the hard way to get the heck out of South America too. We met a really cool Russian guy who lives in Israel—we still stay in touch. We met a super friendly young woman from Budapest who we keep in contact with, too, an entire family from Sweden, moving on.
We landed in the UK in June and were immediately made aware of the racial tensions in that country—nothing like Central America vs North America but tension none the less. Textile industry boom in Britain, something something, couldn’t man the industry, bla bla bla, the Queen of England granted all of the Commonwealth of Nations residents citizenship in Great Britain, the majority of whom came from Pakistan, India, and Cypress. Fast forward to current day where second and third generation families who’s origin is Commonwealth and are born and raised in the UK and, well, the racial tension between English and Middle Eastern people is vibrant and active to this day—you can feel it.
In the UK, we met and befriended people of multiple nationalities who I stay in contact with and intend remaining friends with forever—really good people, I can’t say enough good things about them. They’re from Ireland, Britain, Syria, Pakistan, Poland, and I’m probably leaving a few out. Since arriving in Greece at the beginning of this month, the stunning @puravidaville and myself, while volunteering at the Middle Eastern refugee camp and, around Greece in general, have met and befriended several other people from various walks of #life including Iraq, Bulgaria, Belgium, Cypress, Morocco, Norway, Germany and I’m probably leaving a few out (again)—we’ve had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a lot of exceptional people.
Everyone who has come in contact with us from various parts of that whatever shaped surface I mentioned earlier, regardless of their previously conceived notions toward America, I guarantee has a positive opinion of Americans now. They now know, if nothing else, there’s a pair of Americans out there who are kind, accepting, and just genuine human beings who won’t judge you based on your geographic location, spoken language, color of your flesh, God you lean on for guidance, yata yata, none of those generationally compounded ideals.
In fact, the only thing better than last nights meal would’ve been to sit across the table from you, regardless of your eating utensils, your clothing, regardless of your currency, your beliefs and laws enforced upon you by the leaders of your community, and all of that other meaningless ish and share this meal Pura whipped up last minute for “our” Thanksgiving meal. I’ll explain how we got it at some point during this article, maybe—maybe not but seeing how this is still a @foodfightfriday contender and I’ve yet to picture an image, I invite you to share this meal with us.
Citrus infused Salmon steaks over gluten free pasta with fresh roasted vegetables and a Greek salad. “Happy Thanksgiving, Steemit!”
I received several messages on WhatsApp yesterday wishing Pura and I a happy Thanksgiving. Pura’s mom called to wish us the same, a few of my buddies called, it was nice. Had we still been in England, our plan was to prepare a meal to enjoy with the British and Irish couple we quickly became friends with who live in West Yorkshire England. We’ll chalk that one up to “it’s the thought that counts.”
We also heard several concerns and found ourselves answering questions and explaining why people celebrate Thanksgiving in our home country—the United States of America. People at the refugee camp, the restaurant owner across the street, several people were obviously anxious to finally meet an American to address their questions and concerns. One guy even asked me “why does America have a Christopher Columbus holiday? That would be like Germany celebrating Hitler day.” He was Norwegian.
Along with those phone calls and messages I told you about, I also received a link to purchase a book called 500 Years Of Indigenous Resistance by author, Gord Hill, an anti-capitalist supporter, writer and artist from Northwest America. I’ll show you a picture of the cover of that book now along with the memes I received from non-US citizens leading up to yesterday’s traditionally celebrated, American holiday.
I take no credit for those images other than crossing out the F bomb in the last one. I don’t know where or how they originated other than a text message that was sent to my phone.
Look, do you think your #history books are any different than mine? Certainly you don’t believe your history books are any less fabricated than mine are by people who are more powerful than you will ever be and have only their special interests in mind. Are you Japanese or German, you who’s reading this right now, and were you alive in 1941 during the attack of Pearl Harbor? We’re talking 77 years ago—I would never consider judging you for that heinous act of violence so why am I over here in Greece trying to explain something I had no control over more than 500 years ago?
It was barely 200 years ago when British military invaded the United States causing countless men, women, and children to lose their lives while burning and destroying the country, including the White House, in an effort to overthrow and regain rule over the original 13 colonies. Who would be correct in celebrating that tragedy or any of the historic tragedies not identified in this article that happened ages before our time and are something none of us have or had any control over? No one.
That’s why we, Americans, don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as an honor to those who attempted the mass genocide of indigenous people who first occupied America—that’s not what it’s about. We all know the ”Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue” tale and we all were taught to read the same designed history from the same designed books but trust me when I say that’s not what Thanksgiving means to us. Nobody gathers around the dinner table in prayer on Thanksgiving Day giving thanks to the soldiers who served back then and did what they were ordered to do by attempting the complete annihilation of Native Americans.
Thanksgiving is about having a four day weekend in the United States where you don’t have to punch a time clock and are instead granted twice the amount of time to spend with your #family. Or, if you’re a bastard, only child like I am, time with friends. Thanksgiving to most people in the United States is an annual gathering of people you don’t see on a consistent basis who surround the television and watch the basketball game. It’s about eating so much, you make yourself nauseous and wish you would’ve worn sweat pants to the party.
Amidst each of the United States current and past sanctions, each of our voted, appointed (whatever it’s called) presidential actors and regardless of what you think about our history, let’s not stretch the truth any further than it already is. By the way, slavery began in Portugal, not America, but we’re still held accountable for that one, too. It’s called money, fiat, and most Americans don’t have any. I’m willing to bet all of the SP in my wallet not one Rothschild has or ever will read one of my articles. Hate them—not Americans.
Because at the end of the day, whether it’s Thanksgiving Day or Food Fight Friday, payday, yesterday, etc. every nation leans on the same phone number when they’re in trouble. When your country is in term oil, when your country is in crisis or being attacked, suffered weather damage or starving to death, the rulers of your nation all dial the same phone number. “9-1-1,” the national distress hotline in America. The United States is commonly hated until the one who’s doing the hating needs assistance. Judging Americans, as a whole, for current affairs that are media fed such as Syria, Iraq, and Iran is ridiculous and even the most logically challenged individual understands it’s about money and people who want more of it—not the American public. And if we, as a society, have no control over current affairs, then how can we still be held accountable for something that took place over 500 years ago?
Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have today, thankful for what your neighbors have, not what the same corrupt powers of today who are no different than the corrupt powers from back then did and will continue to do. Don’t group all of us together—we’re all thankful for various reasons and none of them include past mistakes made by people nobody reading this has ever met.
iphone 8+
In a country where everyone is quick to judge past mistakes of the American government and quick to point the finger in regards to a Thanksgiving celebration, they sure are quick to hop on the consumer train. English is not the spoken language in Greece, iheart Greece, but all of the signs in all of the windows today are in English and are a direct representation of a nationally recognized American holiday that everyone in Europe is quick to point their finger at.
I’m not even sure if I should write this wOrd. I’ve probably already crossed too many lines with this one—don’t do this, either, because if I didn’t say it, who would? There’s a saying for those who judge the actions outside of their own control about throwing glass rocks at houses or something like that. I really need to consider wrapping up this contender.
Thanksgiving is about receiving those random text messages wishing you good health, or seeing your wife’s phone light up when her mother calls and has her grandparents on the line to say “happy Thanksgiving.” It’s about #writing an article like this to better explain the mentality at all of the dinner tables on Thanksgiving Day in America. It’s about anticipating a @foodfightfriday contender so you grab your beautiful wife by the hand and the two of you walk across the street to the veggie stand for fresh produce. It’s about going two streets up to the fish stand to grab two salmon steaks, then the market next door to the fish stand for real feta cheese, and it’s about taking pictures of that, as well as, the prep process required to put this contender together.
I’m thankful you made it all the way through this article—thanks for hanging out with me again, and I’m thankful for the thumbs I just used to type this whole thing. Thanksgiving is a nationally recognized American holiday, sure, but everyone reading this has reasons to be thankful and that’s what Thanksgiving is all about. It may have a despicable origin but most everything we celebrate has been for negative reasons at some point, think about it—Memorial Day, Independence Day, Presidents Day. They all have negative history attached to them yet are celebrated annually. That’s why today is called today and history is not called today. It’s about being thankful for this Air B&B we’ll be in for two more days with an ocean view balcony and a sky over my head that looks like this right now.
It’s about being thankful I finally found a way to wrap up this contender. Same place next week, deal? Thanks for hanging out with me. If you haven’t heard about @foodfightfriday, click here and make a mess with us—you’ll be glad you did. Enjoy the rest of your Friday, steemit, and have an even better weekend.
