A sister's thanksgiving: sisters are thankful for sisters, brothers, children and our journey - Sister Speak

I was in a discount store the other day with my toddler when her tiny "tank you" caught the ear of an elderly Black woman. She chased us down for two aisles before she caught us. "You don't hear that anymore," she said, nodding approval. "Nobody says, 'thank you,' anymore," she said.

When I was growing up, "please" and "thank you" were in the first 10 words every child learned, right after Ma-Ma and Da-Da. We were taught to be grateful, because as it was so pointedly noted, "Nobody has to do anything for you."

Giving thanks is part of our ancestral legacy. Our slave ancestors gave thanks, forming rituals of gratitude even in their extremely adverse conditions. When they couldn't be thankful for freedom, they were thankful for life itself and for family, for a morsel of food and a straw pallet to lay their head. More than 14 decades since slavery, what makes Sisters in the 21st century thankful?

Sisters are thankful for the genius of our ancestors, the powerful leadership of slave strategists like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, educators like Mary McLeod Bethune and Mary Church Terrell, civil rights activists like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Ella Baker, Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King.

Sisters are thankful for the faith of our grandmothers and mothers. Although the hymn praises the faith of our fathers, most Sisters and Brothers receive their first instructions in faith at their mother's knee. Mothers usually teach the first blessings over the food, the first goodnight prayers, and are observed actively living the gospel mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick and visit the imprisoned.

Sisters are thankful for Sisters, for Aretha and Ann Fudge and Marva Collins and Johnnetta B. Cole, for Sister Jamie T. Phelps, the Rev. Bernice King and the Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook. We're thankful for Marion Jones and Serena and Venus' mother, Oracene, and for Venus and Serena.

Sisters are thankful for children (their own and other people's) and for the Sister-friends who form the village to help raise them, for Marian Wright Edelman whose lifetime devotion and dedication to our children will ensure that the "Leave No Child Behind" program that she named and started becomes a reality and not just a slogan.

Finally, Sisters are grateful for our much-maligned and beleaguered Black Brothers, the fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands, boyfriends, friends and colleagues.

They are the strong Black men who stay, pray, protect and navigate this crazy sea of life with us--and look so good doing it.

Sisters are thankful for turkey and dressing and all the trimmings and for whoever invented and wrote down Grandma's and/or Muh Dear's recipes for the dressin', sweet potato pie, greens, biscuits and/or other family favorites!

Sisters are also thankful for store sales, chocolate candy, house shoes, and "good hair days," not in the old "good hair means straight hair," but in the however-you-are-wearing-your-hair-it-looks-good-today way.

Sisters are grateful for their seasons. Most folks today are preaching some variation of a season sermon. But the wise Sister is grateful, thankful and committed whatever the season, knowing that whether in a single season or a married season, a widowed season or a debutante season, a learning season or a teaching season, a good Sister remains steadfast in the ancestors' faith, whatever the weather.

So, in this season and every season, give thanks to those around you, those who care about you and care for you. Don't be depressed about life situations, be grateful for the journey. As Duke Ellington said, "Any day I wake up is a good day."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group