Giving Thanks

Embracing gratitude amid Thanksgiving feasts and family reflections

Next week brings Thanksgiving, which means a five day holiday for our students and a little break for our teachers as well. We get to wake up to some giant balloons floating throughout New York in the freezing cold. Time to gorge on turkey, roll ourselves out with mashed potatoes, stuff ourselves on stuffing, and fill any remaining gaps with cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And when that is done, we can take a nap. It may mean sitting at the kid’s table well into your 20s or 30s, but such is life.

And while the rest is always welcome, it is a chance for us to reflect and give thanks for the things that we have. Students – thank your parents and extended family for the opportunities they have given you. Take the time next week to talk and see how everyone is doing. There probably isn’t a lot of family time with everyone’s schedules, so take a moment and reconnect. Parents – talk to your kids and tell them how proud you are of their hard work. They probably don’t hear it enough and what better time to embarrass them than in front of a lot of family? Enjoy the few quiet moments that happen when there isn’t that much to do.

When we all return, don’t forget to give thanks to the teachers who spend countless hours preparing lessons, drafting exams (even though you don’t like those exams), grading papers, and caring for your well-being. We are all here to see our students succeed. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and as a gift, we leave you with this really bad poem we just wrote.

It’s time to give thanks they say
For we are near Thanksgiving Day
A time to reflect on our blessings
While we eat turkey with all the trimmings
So thanks to our family
Who put up with us when things get crazy
And thanks to our friends
Who stick with us to the end
Thanks to our teachers
Whose academic work we feature
And thanks to this bad poem
That ends here