This year, instead of making a Thanksgiving dinner at home, we went to the Salvation Army, to serve a meal to families staying at the shelter.
Besides our family, there was a couple there, who seemed very nice. Guy and his wife, around 40, I’d guess.
Waiting to clean up after dinner, the guy tells me that the United States is the only country in the world with an entire holiday dedicated to gratitude. “One of the things that makes us the greatest country in the world,” he added.
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I could have said nothing. Could have smiled and nodded and kept things agreeable.
But I thought I caught a whiff of something below the surface.
So I told him that Canada has their own Thanksgiving in October. Same basic thing. Harvest celebration.
Not a real country, he replied. Going to be the 51st state anyway.
Wife gave him a look: Not here. Not today.
But he was clearly ready to launch, and you could tell that his wife’s request for self-restraint wasn’t going over well.
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