Thanks Thanks..giving

1621 was a great year of harvest. The fertile soil and pleasant climate brought enormous produce to the Native tribes settling along the St. Lawrence. In fact, the farmers stocked enough food to get through the entire winter, plus some more. To show their gratefulness to the nature, the Native Chiefs decided to have a celebration. And of course, they invited the Europeans to join them for this graaand feast, which is later known in the English language as.. "Thanksgiving".

Now as the festival was passed down from generation to generation, Thanksgiving is often associated with that big, juicy, turkey stuffed with goodies that make your tummy go "MmmHmm!" - it's a 'must-have'

Nothing wrong with that, but this Thanksgiving, I realized something more behind this holiday.

Friday night, Montreal was in pouring rain. On my night stroll along St. Catherine, the street was almost quiet, without the usual spirit of youth who are ready to blast off. How lovely the city on a peaceful night! But a bit of distance ahead, under the streetlight was a silhouette of a man, walking the street in pouring rain without an umbrella. I wonder if he feels miserable when Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Unlike many of my more fortunate floormates at Molson, I didn't go home this weekend, but mom visited me. After showing her around the city on Saturday, Sunday night she was at my residence, and cooked an adequate dinner for me a couple of my friends. The dinner was nothing like a banquet, but mom made the best out of what we had. The little pieces of green vegetables, bits and strips of lamb meat taken with simply prepared sauce..it wasn't bad. We all sat around a little table and ate dinner, I won't forget it.

So sometimes there is no turkey at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Maybe sometimes we need to break the tradition in order to make new discoveries. For that man walking in the rain, maybe he is in search of something beyond my realm of understanding.

There's something so beautiful about simplicity.