Saturday, December 17, 1994
Thanksgiving Holiday Observations
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis 12/20/94
A nice letter from Janet Masucci of 1st Ave inquires whether "begging on the morn of Thanksgiving" was a New York City tradition years ago. The writer and her sister, when children in Brooklyn in the '40s, would dress up as street urchins, and spend two morning hours ringing dooorbells and chanting: "Anything for Thanksgiving?" Her Manhattan friends dispute this, and accuse her of confusing Thanksgiving with Halloween.
Rest assured, Janet, your memory is not at fault. While I do not recall this tradition in my beloved Bronx, at the recent Concerned Citizens Speak dinner two native New Yorkers verified your recollections. While the Downtown people knew not of this tradition, Tom DeRosa of the Jefferson Dem Club remembered as a child going out with a basket and asking for Thanksgiving gifts in Maspeth, Queens. Audrey Sisson Kasha, Bill Passannante's chief of staff and a 4th generation New Yorker who grew up in Inwood, way up North, recalls going around with her classmates and asking for "A penny for Thanksgiving" in the neighborhood. She later called me to announce that she had confirmed the tradition with some more of our neighbors - Housing Judge Florence L. Riley (Ret.), Acting Supreme Court Judge Orest V. Maresca (Ret.) and Barbara S. Cota, all natives of Manhattan North of 59th St., and Lilian Greenberg, who grew up in Brooklyn.
This is indeed the season for giving of thanks, of money, of kindnesses. And of healing, post-election variety. At the CCS dinner, Assemblyman Steven Sanders spoke of the opportunity of meeting his Republican opponent Dominick Crispino, who put him on his mettle and forced him to reexamine some of his concepts. This is healing. We hire our representatives to govern us because we like their ideas and think that they will meld them with our opinions for the highest common good. Yes, that is what we do. And we want effective government, not gridlock and bickering. Neither do we want rubber stamp people and opinion poll jockeys, who at the extreme will kill the IRS because "nobody wants taxes." And we do not want obstructionists who stop the process of democratic governing for the classic Albany reason: it was sponsored by the other party, as Eric Pooley repeatedly charges (NY Mag, 9/19/94 and 12/5/94). Hence the need for healing, which some more sophisticated and cynical writers consider hypocritical, but which nevertheless is absolutely essential, in the interests of effective government. Albany and Washington to copy.
Further, to kindness and giving, for which we too are on call. Even though in our neighborhood there are no Thanksgiving kids asking for pennies, we do have coffee-cup men who guilt-trip us by solicitously inquiring: "Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?" And we have other opportunities. I have three further experiences to recite to you. On Thanksgiving morning I passed a metermaid writing a ticket. Overcoming the immediate reaction, I gave her a cheerful:"Good Morning!" Just that, and no cute extras. She froze, lowered her book, turned around, and, seeing that I was a friendly, responded in kind. It was not my car.
The next kindness was not as cheaply bought. On E. 17th a black Cocker spaniel was was doing his thing on the sidewalk, with the owner standing in his doorway. When I returned, the doo was still there, and, with a sudden rush of anger, I swept it up on a piece of paper, to put it on the stoop of the guilty house. But three steps away, I returned and put it in the garbage can. That was to soothe my conscience. But what of the neighborhood? Should I have pinned a note on the nearest tree? What is the proper form? No one wants to be a busybody.
Third experience. At 2:30 PM, while I was in line for some last minute supplies at the 18th St. Sloan's, the young woman ahead of me was paying $17 for a turkey. "I hope it's defrosted," I spoke up, and this unleashed a torrent. "Yes, I'm so glad you asked, this is my first Thanksgiving turkey, what should I do, the company is coming at 7 PM." "Well, what about a dressing?" That elicited a stare, and a comment from the store manager, a nice lady not much older than the customer: "What kind of dressing do you want?" "It's her first turkey," I explained, and the manager rushed off, to return with a fast-cooking box of Stove-Top dressing. "Don't get confused, everything is on the wrappers, just follow the instructions," we assured the girl, as she ran off, somewhat less petrified.
Thanksgiving also brings on the traditional interdenominational service put together by the 12 community-minded clergymen - ministers, rabbis and priests - who form a monthly meeting, a lunch session to discuss local problems. Ever since the initial great response of the community to this service, the participation has fallen down, to the point where the givers ask: "Should we bother, this year?" And invariably, they respond with a resounding "Yes!" Because they believe that it works, that we can be a community. This is an article of faith, and it behooves us to respond. So, next year, when you see a notice in your community newspaper, your church or synagogue bulletin about this Thanksgiving service, at the end of which we sing "America the beautiful," remember to come. It revives your faith, in humanity as well as in community. And if a visitor, seeing the priest/rabbi/minister interaction, shakes his head and sighs: "Only in America," ask him: "Why not everywhere?"
So there. Faith, healing, community, giving. Love, if I dare to say the sacred word. The elements that make us America, not Bosnia, nor Rwanda, nor Chechenya. Interfaith, multiracial, multicultural, giving, forgiving, together despite our differences, all walking out of step towards a common future, wrapped together only by instructions of governance written over 200 years ago by some simple, unconfused thinkers and conflict resolvers. Only in America. Everything is on the wrapper, just follow the instructions.
Wally Dobelis and T&V wish you a Happy Holiday Season, and a healthy and prosperous 1995.
A nice letter from Janet Masucci of 1st Ave inquires whether "begging on the morn of Thanksgiving" was a New York City tradition years ago. The writer and her sister, when children in Brooklyn in the '40s, would dress up as street urchins, and spend two morning hours ringing dooorbells and chanting: "Anything for Thanksgiving?" Her Manhattan friends dispute this, and accuse her of confusing Thanksgiving with Halloween.
Rest assured, Janet, your memory is not at fault. While I do not recall this tradition in my beloved Bronx, at the recent Concerned Citizens Speak dinner two native New Yorkers verified your recollections. While the Downtown people knew not of this tradition, Tom DeRosa of the Jefferson Dem Club remembered as a child going out with a basket and asking for Thanksgiving gifts in Maspeth, Queens. Audrey Sisson Kasha, Bill Passannante's chief of staff and a 4th generation New Yorker who grew up in Inwood, way up North, recalls going around with her classmates and asking for "A penny for Thanksgiving" in the neighborhood. She later called me to announce that she had confirmed the tradition with some more of our neighbors - Housing Judge Florence L. Riley (Ret.), Acting Supreme Court Judge Orest V. Maresca (Ret.) and Barbara S. Cota, all natives of Manhattan North of 59th St., and Lilian Greenberg, who grew up in Brooklyn.
This is indeed the season for giving of thanks, of money, of kindnesses. And of healing, post-election variety. At the CCS dinner, Assemblyman Steven Sanders spoke of the opportunity of meeting his Republican opponent Dominick Crispino, who put him on his mettle and forced him to reexamine some of his concepts. This is healing. We hire our representatives to govern us because we like their ideas and think that they will meld them with our opinions for the highest common good. Yes, that is what we do. And we want effective government, not gridlock and bickering. Neither do we want rubber stamp people and opinion poll jockeys, who at the extreme will kill the IRS because "nobody wants taxes." And we do not want obstructionists who stop the process of democratic governing for the classic Albany reason: it was sponsored by the other party, as Eric Pooley repeatedly charges (NY Mag, 9/19/94 and 12/5/94). Hence the need for healing, which some more sophisticated and cynical writers consider hypocritical, but which nevertheless is absolutely essential, in the interests of effective government. Albany and Washington to copy.
Further, to kindness and giving, for which we too are on call. Even though in our neighborhood there are no Thanksgiving kids asking for pennies, we do have coffee-cup men who guilt-trip us by solicitously inquiring: "Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?" And we have other opportunities. I have three further experiences to recite to you. On Thanksgiving morning I passed a metermaid writing a ticket. Overcoming the immediate reaction, I gave her a cheerful:"Good Morning!" Just that, and no cute extras. She froze, lowered her book, turned around, and, seeing that I was a friendly, responded in kind. It was not my car.
The next kindness was not as cheaply bought. On E. 17th a black Cocker spaniel was was doing his thing on the sidewalk, with the owner standing in his doorway. When I returned, the doo was still there, and, with a sudden rush of anger, I swept it up on a piece of paper, to put it on the stoop of the guilty house. But three steps away, I returned and put it in the garbage can. That was to soothe my conscience. But what of the neighborhood? Should I have pinned a note on the nearest tree? What is the proper form? No one wants to be a busybody.
Third experience. At 2:30 PM, while I was in line for some last minute supplies at the 18th St. Sloan's, the young woman ahead of me was paying $17 for a turkey. "I hope it's defrosted," I spoke up, and this unleashed a torrent. "Yes, I'm so glad you asked, this is my first Thanksgiving turkey, what should I do, the company is coming at 7 PM." "Well, what about a dressing?" That elicited a stare, and a comment from the store manager, a nice lady not much older than the customer: "What kind of dressing do you want?" "It's her first turkey," I explained, and the manager rushed off, to return with a fast-cooking box of Stove-Top dressing. "Don't get confused, everything is on the wrappers, just follow the instructions," we assured the girl, as she ran off, somewhat less petrified.
Thanksgiving also brings on the traditional interdenominational service put together by the 12 community-minded clergymen - ministers, rabbis and priests - who form a monthly meeting, a lunch session to discuss local problems. Ever since the initial great response of the community to this service, the participation has fallen down, to the point where the givers ask: "Should we bother, this year?" And invariably, they respond with a resounding "Yes!" Because they believe that it works, that we can be a community. This is an article of faith, and it behooves us to respond. So, next year, when you see a notice in your community newspaper, your church or synagogue bulletin about this Thanksgiving service, at the end of which we sing "America the beautiful," remember to come. It revives your faith, in humanity as well as in community. And if a visitor, seeing the priest/rabbi/minister interaction, shakes his head and sighs: "Only in America," ask him: "Why not everywhere?"
So there. Faith, healing, community, giving. Love, if I dare to say the sacred word. The elements that make us America, not Bosnia, nor Rwanda, nor Chechenya. Interfaith, multiracial, multicultural, giving, forgiving, together despite our differences, all walking out of step towards a common future, wrapped together only by instructions of governance written over 200 years ago by some simple, unconfused thinkers and conflict resolvers. Only in America. Everything is on the wrapper, just follow the instructions.
Wally Dobelis and T&V wish you a Happy Holiday Season, and a healthy and prosperous 1995.
