A Different Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving holiday. It was a good day. Though I miss being with more of the family, I was, never-the-less edified for the day, and grateful. We had Mary, the work lady, and her family for dinner she and Jordana cooked it. For this I am grateful, that my family will not look down on the Mexican people. I noticed today that my children treat the hired lady and her children as equals. The local tradition is otherwise. The rich treat the poor with too much indifference.

Mary is the mother of a family in poverty. I hired her out of the fields, picking peppers for ten or fifteen dollars a day. I pay her twenty five dollars for a six hour day. I provide her and her children with meals and other necessities. Her husband abandoned her and her children. She lives in a small house with one bedroom. She is honest and hard working. She is more honest than the rich who steal from the poor. She comes six days a week and makes my home life better than it has ever been. She nurtures and cares well for my children. Since there is not mother in the home, this is greatly appreciated. Now this is value as I have seldom seem. Though I can hardly feel fully comfortable knowing I live better then her and countless others around her, this is how live is in a country with much poverty. It is a stretch to hire and help her.

Jordana, my daughter, actually associates more with the Mexican’s then the white folks that are related. She loves and is loved by them. She need not put on airs, she can be herself, she can be real.

I see order and harmony growing around me and life is growing in many respects. Thank God for the sense and importance of equality I have found in life. A warm and peaceful glow was all about in the home and family today. This was a good Thanksgiving. I miss my family and relatives now far away but something magical filled the gap quite well this day.