On Gratitude
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton
The Thought to Action contributors wish you and your families a joyful and rejuvenating Thanksgiving. We share some of our favorite thoughts and memories about this holiday below.
Brian Fiallo
This year I am deeply grateful for the continued health and safety of my family in an increasingly turbulent world. I’m also grateful for the incredibly rewarding professional opportunity to attend the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College as well as the family-oriented schedule before I head back to the operational force. I spent the Thanksgiving of 2012 in Afghanistan on Camp Clark during my first combat deployment. I remember seeing more food than I have ever seen in one place, all prepared by the incredible Camp Clark chef named George. I was grateful then to spend that meal with my soldiers, considering we faced perilous conditions each day. I was immensely grateful by the deployment’s end that God and my soldiers’ skills had seen us all through to safety. While I am grateful to be able to spend this Thanksgiving with my wife and children, I think back on that Thanksgiving today. I think about all the Soldiers and service members who are still in harm’s way and who do not get to spend it with their families and pray for their continued safety.
Alexander Boroff
Of all of the holidays that the Army celebrates, Thanksgiving seems to be the one that stands out in my memory as a time where extra effort is made to preserve the true spirit of the holiday. Breaking bread together at the unit level is certainly a bonding experience on any occasion, but when it is done in conjunction with what is normally a family holiday, it feels more authentic. Extra effort is made if soldiers are deployed, as a few of the other experiences will relate. Food, it turns out, is a great motivator whenever soldiers can take solace in its consumption, be it a few minutes longer to eat a Meal Ready to Eat or having ‘hot chow’ versus cold rations. As a platoon leader this is something I had yet to learn, and made some poor decisions based on my perception of what had to be done immediately. I am grateful my platoon sergeant and my section sergeants had enough patience to teach this to me. I am eternally thankful to them for this. Further, I am thankful for every leader or subordinate that has struggled to teach me, and persisted until I learned whatever lesson they were trying to impart.
This past COVID Thanksgiving (2020), as families remained distant and unable to celebrate together, was challenging for all of us. This Thanksgiving, I am grateful we are able to gather in some capacity and celebrate a truly American holiday. Be it with friends in the ubiquitous friendsgiving or with as many extended family members as available, the fact that this gathering is something that is possible at all is something I am truly thankful for. Taking a final moment to consider how lucky I am to live as an American citizen is grounding before embarking on the usual traditions of the holiday.
As a more personal sign-off, I am blessed to have friends who have stuck with me through trials and tribulations, immensely supportive parents, a dedicated and hardworking sister, an industrious and thoughtful wife, and this year, a healthy and happy son! Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers!
Brigid Calhoun
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”—G. K. Chesterton.
I love returning to this quote by English author G.K. Chesterton each Thanksgiving. A prophetic writer in many ways, Chesterton’s “one liners” carry timeless truths about what makes us human. I have long found it fitting and proper that America sets aside one day each year for offering thanks. What a gift to be provided an annual opportunity to reflect upon the things for which we should be most grateful.
My office at the Pentagon started the reflection process last week, thanks to our Marine Sergeant. She printed off small slips of paper with a short phrase at the top: “This year, I am grateful for….” She simply left them on her desk below a colorful turkey. In our office’s common area, she repurposed a white board and taped up her slip of paper detailing what she is grateful for this year. Over the course of the week, more slips of paper appeared on the white board. The usual topics of “faith, family, and friends,” “my job,” “my health,” and “the men and women of the U.S. military” appeared alongside funnier ones like “Chipotle.” (For anyone who has been deployed in an austere environment, having access to Chipotle is certainly something for which we can offer thanks.) This small effort by our 22-year-old Marine Sergeant introduced small pauses for contemplation over the past week in an otherwise fast-paced work environment. I can’t speak for the rest of my co-workers, but it was just what I needed. A gentle nudge to re-order my priorities and “get my mind right” before this special holiday.
And yet on Sunday, I nearly regressed into my interior world of disordered priorities. After leaving Mass, I immediately ran through my mental to-do list for the rest of the day: get groceries, finish the blog post, finish unpacking boxes at my new house, call my parents, meal prep for next week, check my work email, rake the leaves. My fiance and I stopped by the Commissary on Joint Base Meyer-Henderson Hall. After checking out, my mind moved to the next item on my to-do list. He asked if I wanted to take a short walk through Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. My initial reaction was “that will set me back on my to-do list,” which was quickly followed by “Brigid, what the heck are you thinking? Yes, go to the cemetery!”
So we drove onto ANC, ascending and descending the rolling hills of white headstones and red, golden, brown, and green foliage. As we approached Section 60, I felt the tears coming. I saw a woman sitting on the ground, alone, beside a headstone. She wiped a tear from her eye beneath her sunglasses. I immediately felt guilty for thinking my short visit here would upend my all-too-important to-do list for Sunday.
We got out of the car and started walking towards the “newest” row in Section 60. My thoughts then turned to who I knew I would see next: another young Marine Sergeant who would set me straight in my priorities. I knew my West Point classmate Andrew (Drew) Ross would be nearby. When my fiancé stopped walking, the tears really started to flow. Right in front of Drew rests Marine Sergeant Nicole Gee, one of the thirteen U.S. service members killed in the suicide attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26 of this year. A few plots to her left rests Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, killed in the same attack. Both their graves were adorned with flowers and boxes of Stove Top turkey stuffing mix. Just in time for Thanksgiving.
Standing in front of their graves filled me with the sense of wonder that I think Chesterton had in mind when he wrote that “gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” How lucky we are not only to live in America, but to have a sacred place like ANC to visit. Row after row of white marble fills you with wonder, and despite the sadness we may feel in knowing that young lives were cut short, we can be profoundly grateful that we have their memory to honor.
