Giving Thanks, Holding Many Truths

A Message from our Executive Director

As we approach the end of the year, many of us are taking stock of all that has happened (and not happened) in 2020. The headlines this year have been about COVID 19 pandemic, police brutality and uprisings against structural racism, the presidential election and natural disasters. The headlines often obscure the stories about the lives affected by these monumental events. Through our work, we have glimpses at communities across Maine. From grantees and partners, we have heard about the challenges they’re facing and how they’ve responded to the demands these headlines have placed on them. In the midst of so much that feels overwhelming, these stories give us reason to be grateful.

We are grateful for organizations that live into their missions and serve their communities, even as reality changes in real time. We are grateful for the deep sense of community and solidarity at the root of so many efforts in Maine, and for the creativity and boldness of organizations and groups, small and large. We have witnessed new groups and efforts formed in response to needs and opportunities, and organizations adapt and improvise to meet the moment. The Sewall Foundation has the honor of supporting and partnering with these community organizations as we adapt and learn as well.

And while I would love to make this an upbeat message about giving thanks, I believe it is important that we face our collective reality honestly. I have found gratitude to be transformative when it is sincere, without self-interest and embracing of seemingly opposing truths. 2020 has been a hard year. As we approach holiday season, many of us are wrestling with the fact that we won’t share meals and hugs with loved ones; that too many of us have lost loved ones to COVID and to racial violence and injustice; that many still face economic uncertainty from jobs and businesses lost; and that we will enter a new year with many of these facts unchanged. These hard realities, spread across the world, have made me really grapple with the practice of giving thanks and to do so with eyes open and humble heart. I grew up in Peru, so I was not familiar with Thanksgiving until I came to the U.S. and I didn’t celebrate at home with my family until friends invited me over to their homes to celebrate. Food made with love, eaten by loved ones sharing time together is a wonderful thing and I started to understand why my friends looked forward to Thanksgiving so much. The idea of having a holiday to give thanks is a beautiful thing.

The full meaning of Thanksgiving wasn’t clear to me until I delved beyond the myth and positive experiences I’d had with friends, though. Growing up in Peru (part and heart of both the Incan Empire and, later, the Spanish Empire), I am very familiar with colonization and with history told in ways that intentionally obscures, excludes or misdirects the truth. So I looked behind the myth to learn more about how Thanksgiving came to be and what it means to different communities in what is now the U.S.

I share some resources that provide insights, perspectives and truth about the history of Thanksgiving in the spirit of giving thanks for an often-underrated gift: truth. This Thanksgiving, as we cook and eat at home with just our household, I will practice giving thanks in the deepest way I can, by acknowledging the often complicated and layered nature of our truths. I share some resources that have been shared with me in the spirit of creating space for the deep gratitude that comes from having once obscured truths shared with us.

I acknowledge and experience the sense of overwhelm, exhaustion and uncertainty of 2020, and I am grateful for the kind, devoted and creative team I get to work with every day. I feel painfully far from my family in Peru and family and friends around the world, and I am grateful that my family is healthy and safe, and we live in a place as beautiful as Maine, where we can step outside and feel grounded by nature.

Thank you for spending time reading about the work we do and believe in at Sewall and for letting us share with you as we continue our equity journey.