For many Americans, this will be a melancholy Thanksgiving. But there is reason for hoping that brighter days lie ahead.
Like many families, we won’t have our usual large gathering of family members and friends on what has always been my favorite holiday. Even before the government started warnings against large family get-togethers, I disinvited the usual collection of children, grandchildren and other friends. (It will, however, prevent the inevitable clash over President Donald Trump.)
Our family is among the lucky ones. We’re all still around to mark this Thanksgiving, unlike the many Americans whom President-elect Joe Biden has often noted will have empty seats at their kitchen or dining room tables because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entire holiday season threatens to be as grim as the grey winter skies during these days with ever shortening daylight hours. The short-term benefits of celebrating the holiday as usual seem hardly worth the potential long-term impact.
Still, there are some hopeful signs, as this dismal year of 2020 morphs into 2021, just five weeks away.