Thanksgiving tradition surprises and teaches, provides insight to American ideals
Seiko Kamikariya
We have less than a month left before winter vacation. I am already excited to go back to Japan and cannot wait for Christmas.
However, this year, I have one more exciting event before the winter vacation — Thanksgiving.
This Thursday will mark my first Thanksgiving holiday, and since it is too far to visit my family in Japan for only four days, I am going to visit my friends in San Francisco.
Before coming to the United States, I didn’t know anything about Thanksgiving or even how big of an event it is for Americans in regards to family gatherings and the amounts of football.
I just thought it was just an excuse to eat a lot of turkey.
And as I guessed, the latter thought probably is the most true. These days, the religious aspect of Thanksgiving is relatively weak, seeming to overlook the coming together of Pilgrims and the Native Americans that first inhabited this country. Instead, the family-oriented holiday is spent preparing dishes from homemade pumpkin pie to candied yams.
Although Japan, for the most part, emphasizes group ties, I find the American tradition of Thanksgiving interesting, as Japanese family ties are not so prominent. We rarely gather with relatives for dinner or for holiday events.
Therefore, I think I could like this American Thanksgiving culture. As such, I think there’s one thing I know I am thankful for, and it is something I think we often overlook.
Here in America, we are capable of change.
Let me explain. Because I am from Japan, where the population is composed mainly of Japanese, I am glad to study here in the country of the “melting pot.”
It is really difficult to understand discrimination and prejudice since I am part of the majority in a country where there are few to no minorities. Here, I actually get to experience being the foreigner.
That said, I originally thought it wouldn’t be difficult to live in the United States. I figured most of the American people are more open-minded because of the country’s immigrant history and endless mixture of cultures.
In fact, it is hard to live in the United States as a non-native English speaker. I sometimes feel I don’t belong and I’m often scared to speak English in front of native speakers.
Only now do I understand how truly brave Martin Luther King, Jr. was and how immigrants must have felt in the face of adversity. Particularly with this election year making history, it only proves that the American people can and do make the changes they want to see.
For that, I am thankful.
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