Meaning In Thanksgiving

It would be trite of me to write an editorial about Thanksgiving, asking you to answer the question, “What am I thankful for?” So I won’t.

I’d like to consider a different side of Thanksgiving’s importance. Towards the end of the year, I tend to become a bit more introspective. As the year ends, we come to the holidays - with all of their religious and family significance - and New Years, with the obvious look into the future. But there is something unique and special about Thanksgiving. This holiday is my 71-year-old mother’­s favorite and one in which my wife and I make a special pilgrimage to be with our family, no matter where we are living.

Thanksgiving’s uniqueness derives simply from this: the emphasis on meaning.

Of all pursuits in life, the search for meaning is one of the most fundamental. Consider it logically for a moment. Without meaning, we can’t understand the truth of something. For example, if I say to you “the glunk ran up the b’doink”, I’d most likely receive a very strange look from you (besides a laugh at how stupid those words sound). Without understanding just what a glunk and a b’doink are – their meaning – you can’t possibly understand whether the entire statement is true or false. Thus, meaning must precede truth.

For many of us choosing medicine was at least partially determined by a desire to look for meaning. The unique interactions we have with our patients lead us to consider the greater meaning of life. How a patient handles terrible news like a diagnosis of cancer or the need to lose a limb often reveals greater messages about our existence. I can say confidently that I’ve learned incredible lessons about the meaning in life from my exposure to the various aspects of the medical profession. The prevention of limb loss tells us so much about our need to remain mobile, independent, and free. Considering the intimate relationship between structure and function hints at more profound realities in each of our lives.

We are often reminded about meaning in life from the smallest moments that we experience. It’s usually not those episodes of high drama – graduation from school, attaining that new job, winning money in the lottery – that remind us of meaning. It’s the quiet moments that do this for us.

As often as possible, I try to be home for my children’s bedtime routine. Each night, we tuck my nine-year-old son into bed and then focus on my three-year-old daughter. My wife turns off the light in my daughter’s room and they sit on a rocking chair together, quietly talking about the day’s events. My daughter then comes out and yells to me, “I’m ready!” She hides somewhere in her room where I pretend to search for her (of course I know where she hides – it’s a small room). I find her after “searching” with some pomp and circumstance, and then she kisses and hugs my wife. She and I quietly rock in her chair, listening to a song on my phone (she’s an Elbow fan, listening repeatedly to the same 5 or 6 songs to the point where I’m getting ready to erase my phone). She’s then ready to be tucked in for the night. When I’m psychologically open, the physical feeling of my daughter, with her soft breaths and warm little body, have profound meaning for me.

In mundane, quiet moments like this, I most often find the most meaning. The same is true for Thanksgiving. This holiday, perhaps because of the long four-day weekend, the travel, the change in pace, or the time with family, magnifies the feeling I get from those mundane but special moments.

This Thanksgiving I wish you a most happy holiday and challenge you to open your mind to see the profound meaning all around you. Enjoy every minute with your family and friends. Love those close to you and return next week all the more enriched for consciously experiencing that greater meaning of Thanksgiving.

Best wishes,

Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Practice Perfect Editor
[email protected]

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