Thanksgiving 2015

This morning, the teenager and I woke up early to cut pie.  It's been a Thanksgiving tradition for the two of us, for the last four years, to volunteer at our church the day before Thanksgiving as pie cutters and platers.  Every year, our church opens its doors on Thanksgiving Day to offer a free Thanksgiving dinner; the only qualification someone needs to walk in the door is that they want to eat a delicious turkey dinner with all the sides and a piece of pie.  People volunteer to serve dinner, cook turkeys, bake pies, set up the day before, and clean up afterwards.  Jesus is surely looking down on the entire effort and saying, "See, people, that is exactly what I had in mind!".  I have been thinking for the rest of the day how this experience compares with one I had last weekend.

Last Saturday, I logged onto Facebook while drinking my coffee and saw a meme that someone had posted (not a friend of mine) that compared the Syrian refugees to rats.  The words read "during the Black Plague, no one said only a few of the rats have the fleas let's let the rest come in".  The day before I had seen one comparing the refugees to rattlesnakes. People were liking these memes and possibly even reposting them as well. 

Several years ago, I took the teenager (who was then in 5th grade) to the Holocaust Museum downtown.   She looked at all the exhibits, including one that explained that the Nazi regime killed individuals who were disabled, and asked if that would have included her brother.  I said that it likely would have.  She nodded, looking troubled, and went on to the next exhibit.  Finally she asked me if I though that this could happen here and I said no, I didn't think so.  I didn't put a lot of thought into that answer.  United States, 21st century- completely different place than Germany, 1930s-1940s.  Right?  But here we are, seeing people compared to rats.

Compared to most people in most places at most times (disclaimer: the Mom of No is not a history expert, but I did pay attention in class) those of us who live in the United States have an astounding amout of freedom, despite what you read about on the internet.  I know that I have much to  be thankful for, and if you are reading this you probably do too (You can read,  you have access to a computer, you have electricity and no dictator is censoring what you are reading online).

I have friends who have concerns about the refugees coming over.  It's okay to have questions, or to wonder how the process works.  I had no idea how thoroughly refugees are vetted until last week (it's intense).  What is unacceptable is dehumanizing an entire group of people by comparing them to rats, or rattlesnakes, or proposing that they be forced to wear badges. 

I still have hope that what I told the teenager that day in the museum was right.  The rat meme got likes, but the vast majority of the comments below it were essentially "you have gone too far".  I hope that we have learned that making people wear badges or proposing putting them in camps is wrong.  I have hope that in this place, at this time of year, when so many of us have so much to be thankful for even though it may not always seem like it, that we can refuse to engage in the hate.  After all, this is the season of gratitude, generosity towards our fellow human beings, and celebration of the hope that one day, we will have peace on Earth and goodwill towards all.