Not Just Another Day

It was the fourth Thursday in November and there was a chill in the air.  The leaves had changed and in some cases the trees were already bare awaiting the cold winter months that lie ahead.  It was a school day.  It was a work day.  It was just another day in Switzerland.  But it wasn’t just another day for us Americans…it was Thanksgiving.

Last year was the first year that we spent Thanksgiving in Switzerland.  It was a surreal day for me personally because instead of attending the local high school football game in the morning I dropped the kids off at school.  Instead of spending the day with family I spent the day running errands and cleaning.  Instead of having turkey we ate cheeseburgers in a restaurant.  It was just another day in Switzerland, but it wasn’t for us.

This year the kids are off from school and my Mom is visiting.  We plan on having a Thanksgiving family dinner tonight with turkey and all of our favorite side dishes.  (Well at least some)  The day feels more like it should.  Like it has for 39 years of my life.  In this sense, it has made me think more about America.  The political climate and recent election has been a topic all over the world including here but there is something more to my thoughts.  They are less about the toxic political climate and more about the American culture in general.  Our history. Our country.  Our people.

I spent the day yesterday, along with three other parents, in my son’s kindergarten class talking about America and what it means to be thankful.  This is a class where out of 17 children there are 9 different countries represented with only a handful of Americans.  This is a class where the concept of calling yourself a citizen of a country that is not your nationality is confusing.  This is a class, this kindergarten class, where the American ideals came alive again for me yesterday.  For it brought to life the greatness of a country in which I am thankful for on this day.

Over the course of almost two years having countless discussions with folks from around the world, two aspects of America have continually come to the surface for me.  Two aspects that when put in a broader context help remind me of the audacious hope that we Americans hold onto.  The daring ideals and aspirations that boldly suggest that people who don’t look like each other, sound like each other, come from the same places, can unite and live peacefully under one republic.  Is it perfect?  No.  Is it messy? Yes.  Is it filled with imperfect people who have done, who do, and will continue to do bad things?  Absolutely.  Is it filled with people, maybe even the same people who have done bad things, who do extraordinary things and achieve greatness?  Yes.  This American experiment is ongoing.  It is bold.  And these two reminders came to life in a kindergarten class in Switzerland.

1. When speaking to others who come from countries that span the globe you quickly realize just how young America is. You realize that our history, our culture, and our understanding of self in relation to a world that has deeper roots is apparent to see.  When you juxtapose this reality to that of a kindergarten class filled with children coming to see themselves in relation to others, we see a beautiful work of art unfolding in front us.  We see the distinct act of learning just who you are as an individual while at the same time what it means to be in a community.  We see the excitement of experimenting, learning new things, and becoming more than what you thought you could be.  And maybe the greatest thing we see is that this learning thing is a process.  It is a process that takes time.  This is the American process.  A process that is quite young in relation to the world but due to its foundation has given us the backbone to achieve greatness, explore horizons, challenge norms that need to be challenged, and dream about things that have never been dreamt about before.  Let us be thankful today as Americans for having the zeal, energy, and excitement to learn, grow, and achieve much like the energy of a child who can’t sit still on the carpet for story time.  It is contagious, it is exciting, and it should give us the same “ants in our pants” as we continue on this American story together.

2. As I mentioned before, the very idea of calling yourself a citizen of a country that is not your nationality is extraordinary. It is astonishing.  It is strange.  Especially to those who come from virtually every other country in the world.  This kindergarten class has kids from Germany.  They are Germans.  It has kids from India, Italy, Ireland, Israel etc. and they are all where they come from (the Irish are from Ireland and the Italian is from Italy).  And then there are the Americans.  My son is both Irish and German, and yet he is an American.  The subtleness of this is easy to overlook but remarkable if you think about the outcomes.  In this class if you are German you come from Germany who has borders.  When you say that you’re Irish you come from Ireland where there are borders.  When you come from America you are both of those things within yourself and you live next to others who are the same.  No borders.  No armies to defend your nationality.  No economic systems to up heard to.  You live with, go to school with, play sports with, mourn with, and vote for those who are different by their very nature.  This is truly astonishing and taken for granted by most of us Americans because this is who we are.  This is our reality that has become the model of what it means to co-exist.  Let us be very thankful for this melting pot we call America.  Let us be grateful for the beautiful messiness that comes from figuring out how to do it better (as we are witnessing every day in the news right now).  And let us be thankful for being by our very nature the model for what it means to live in peace with those who normally would be across borders but instead live across the street.

This American ideal is an experiment that my son’s kindergarten class is replicating every day in their little classroom.  An experiment that is extremely hard and difficult but working.  And experiment that involves laughter, tears, melt downs, achievements, and most of all friendship.  This is my son’s kindergarten classroom.  This is America.

And that is something to be thankful for especially on this day that is not just another day…

It is Thanksgiving.