Tis the time of year when we come together to break bread and give thanks to our founds for the resplendent over-abundance of lands and food and freedom (just as long as you're white/christian/straight, and preferably, male).  

Oh what a joyous time it is indeed.  We are taught to celebrate the coming together of European refugees and the Indigenous People that were here long before.  If we are being generous, perhaps when those 1st ships landed, there was some civility and kindness amongst all.  But, as history unfolded, whatever civility there was, was replaced by dominance and an invasive nature.  I am no historian, so I can't preach on the details, but so much is common knowledge, that I don't think it's necessary to be a historian to understand the wrongs that have been done in the time between Plymouth Rock, and today.  For this, I do not recognize the thanksgiving holiday.

So, where did John Wick Day come from???  A fair question.  It started last year.  I woke up on thanksgiving day, excited to watch the Macy's Parade…I made it about 10 minutes into the parade, before a feeling of disgust and anger over took me.  I was not prepared for that shift, and my reaction at 8am in the morning was to turn on “John Wick”.  I wanted to see some form of justice.  I wanted to see some form of retribution.  Thus began “John Wick Day” and “John Wick Week” for me, my wife, and our cat.

For many years, I had enjoyed the Macy's Parade, the performances, the pageantry; it always felt old and warm.  Thankfully, I no longer feel tethered to those feelings, and I believe I see the world just a bit more clearly.  Thanksgiving is a celebration written by the victors, like so many other things.  It is not special, it is not an “honor”, it is the result of a narcistic trait that flows through our society.  A need to be important and special, and to be seen as heroes.  

We are not heroes any more than anyone else.  We are as genocidal and violent as any other.  I know this sounds harsh, and I'm sure some may take the stance of “if you hate it so much, why don't you leave it?”.  To that, I would respond with this...  

Humans are flawed, all humans, from the individual to the community…every last one of us has the ability to be as altruistic and as sadistic as the next person.  I accept our history, and what our ancestors did (and what we continue to do).  I accept it, and I am determined to take a different path, and not repeat the brutal cycles we see around us to the best of my ability.  I may fall flat on my face more times than not, but I intend to try all the same.  

It may look like volunteering to work the holiday for my colleagues, volunteering for the community, or just trying to help a neighbor or stranger in a small way.  I suppose, the actions sound an awful lot like what many people do for thanksgiving day, it's the motivation and the intent that is different.  

My regret and shame is that it took me 45 years to get here.  

And so I say, “Happy John Wick Week” everyone!  Go do some good out there.