As we know from Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville’s reporting, the unique civic and economic role of voluntarism and charity has been a core part of American culture for centuries.
Thanksgiving is a time for reflecting on all those things for which we are grateful. It seems particularly important now at the end of the second year featuring a pandemic and unprecedented restrictions. This past year also brought many abuses of government powers with long-lasting consequences. Americans’ discontent is incredibly high, and some scholars worry that for the first time in over 150 years, we could be heading toward an epic slip downward. Despite all these problems, if one takes a moment to think about it, the goodness and charity of people remain in such abundance that gratitude is warranted. This summer, I lost my mom. She was a wonderful person and one of the best moms ever. (I realize that I’m biased, but I’m also serious.) She was generous and funny, intellectually curious and so easy to please. Despite living in France, far from me and my daughters, she was unfailingly a regular presence in our lives. This was still true even during the last two years when her chronic illness and travel bans made it impossible for us to be together. For example, she organized FaceTime cooking sessions with her granddaughters to teach them the art of baking macarons and pains au chocolat. To say that I was heartbroken at her passing is the deepest understatement. However, I can’t think of this time without feeling the sincerest sense of gratitude for my friends, colleagues and even strangers who have gone out of their way to make this loss easier for my girls and me to bear.
