Bella DeArmitt
Ms. Gray
African American Literature ACC
August 20 2018

The Impact of a Tradition

My family holds great value for traditions: Sunday mornings are reserved for cuddling in my parents' bed, winter breaks are spent holed up with our favorite action heroes--my family will take Jason Bourne and Lieutenant Ripley over the Grinch and Frosty the Snowman any year--and  if we're less than two miles from Ted Drewes then we head home with custard, no questions asked. My parents would argue that each of our traditions teaches a lesson, but the only tradition that I have genuinely learned from over the course of my seventeen years is thankfuls.

Thankfuls are one of the rare traditions that is present every day in the DeArmitt family, well almost every day. Five nights a week, Sunday through Thursday, my family gathers around our dining room table for dinner and family bonding time. As we begin to dig into my mom's home-cooked dinner my dad will kick our tradition off by asking: "So, let's hear some thankfuls". We then circle the table, each family member identifying one occurrence from the day that they are thankful for. My parents began this tradition to help my siblings and I appreciate all things in life, big and small.

In the first few years of practicing thankfuls the responses from my brothers and I were shallow. Most nights after being prompted to name our thankful, we would shoot a glance around the room and quickly splurt out, "forks" or "BLT sandwiches," desperate for an easy out. But, over the years we, along with our consideration for this family tradition, have grown and matured. I was in 5th grade when I finally began to grasp the meaning behind the nightly chore. An article I read in class made it clear to me that not everyone had access to the small items my brother's and I thoughtlessly choose as our thankfuls: utensils, food, chairs, a hardwood floor, and so on. The small things we overlooked day after day were privileges, unearned privileges. I have done nothing to deserve this blessed life, just as an 11 year old child in Nepal has done nothing to deserve a life of extreme poverty. Thankfuls have helped me recognize my privilege and push me, every single day, to take advantage of every opportunity that I'm provided.

All in all, each tradition celebrated by my family holds meaning and encourages family bonding, but thankfuls are the one tradition that I have learned life lessons from. Thankfuls have served their purpose because as I travel through my day, I search for the hidden value in every decision I make, every human I come into contact with, and every situation I'm forced into. Every single moment is capable of yielding a thankful; it just depends on how you look at it. Thankfuls have engrained a positive perspective into my entire family, and because of that, we are all able to make our way through life with our cups half full.

(photo by aleo)