InsightOut: The Spirit of Thanksgiving
Paige Mullin is a second-year Christianity & Culture and Book & Media Studies double major. She is a Student Campus Minister at the University of St. Michael’s College and Associate Editor for the Saeculum Academic Undergraduate Journal. She is very excited to share this reflection with the community and hopes you enjoy reading it.
Thanksgiving is a time of gathering as a community. Some people spend this time with family, friends, and sometimes strangers. When my grandfather was alive, he would host the family’s Thanksgiving dinner at his house. Since his passing, the task alternated among his children for the following years. Regardless of whether the dinner was held in our home or six hours away, my father always tells us about the Thanksgiving tradition he grew up with.
My grandfather hated the idea of people in his community going hungry or being alone on Thanksgiving, so each year, he would open his doors to anyone. Neighbours, friends, strangers, people off the street — all gathered to sit at his table as equals. In this way, he built a community on love and service that carried on for years. He began this tradition before he had children and continued it up until his passing in 2022 at the age of 93. Yes, even at that age he made it a point to serve the community. As his children grew up and had families of their own, we would celebrate Thanksgiving a few days prior or after the actual day, so my siblings, cousins, and I never experienced the open-door dinner he would host, but he and his children would tell the stories of years past.
My grandfather embodied the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday year-round. He was the kindest and most selfless person I had ever met. He was always grateful for what he had and made it his mission to share that joy with everyone he encountered. He would thank the bus driver on the way out, tip wait staff well, recognize the work janitors do, and smile at strangers on the street. By his example, I learned the meaning, and in turn, the importance of being grateful.
Being grateful is more than saying thank you for a gift, it is about really noticing other people and their role in your life, big or small. All of my grandfather’s actions I previously mentioned are about noticing the people around him, because only once you notice people can you truly appreciate them.
Following that, being grateful means showing people appreciation. It does not have to be anything fancy, like an elaborate dinner for the neighborhood, but it is about giving what you can. I cannot cook, so I chop vegetables for my father to boil. I fold the laundry for my mother without her asking because it is one less thing she has to do. I give my friend an extra compliment, hold the door for a stranger, volunteer at a soup kitchen, and perform other small acts of kindness that do not mean much to me, but could mean the world to someone else. My grandfather was a natural at showing his love in these small ways knowing that many people would not appreciate it and may not even notice it. He did not care about being praised or recognized at all for his good deeds, but he did care about leading by example. He wanted people to see kindness and be inspired to be kind themselves. He didn’t want to be known, he wanted love to be known, and he just was a vessel for love to be spread.
That, to me is the spirit of Thanksgiving. It is giving what you can without wanting recognition and instead giving recognition to those around you. I used my grandfather’s story to convey this because I want to thank him for teaching me this valuable lesson about being grateful. Unfortunately, towards the end of his life he was mostly in lock-down and before that, I was too young to fully understand the importance of what he did, so I never had a chance to show him how grateful I am for all he gave to the world. So instead, I will share his teachings to you, dear reader, in hopes that he can inspire you as he did me.
And thank you, Papa Mullin, for making the world a better place.
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