Good Morning! I thought you might enjoy the following Thanksgiving story that appeared many years ago in Readers’ Digest:
When Mrs. Klein told her first graders to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful, she wondered what these children, who lived in a deteriorating neighborhood, actually had to be thankful for. She knew that most of the class would draw pictures of turkeys or of bountifully laden Thanksgiving tables, because that was what they believed was expected of them.
What took Mrs. Klein aback was Douglas’s picture. Douglas was quiet, withdrawn, and likely to be found close in Mrs. Klein’s shadow as they went outside for recess. Douglas’s drawing was simply this: a single hand, obviously, but whose hand?
The class was captivated by his image. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one student. “A farmer,” said another, “because they grow the turkeys.” “It looks more like a policeman, and they protect us.”, said another. “I think,” said Lavinia, who was always so serious, “that it is supposed to be all the hands that help us, but Douglas could only draw one of them.”
Mrs. Klein had almost forgotten Douglas in her pleasure at finding the class so responsive. When she had the others at work on another project, she bent over his desk and asked whose hand it was. Douglas mumbled, “It’s yours, Teacher.” Then Mrs. Klein recalled that she had taken Douglas by the hand from time to time; she often did that with the children. But that it should have meant so much to Douglas….she wiped away the tear.
Perhaps, she reflected, this was her Thanksgiving, and everybody’s Thanksgiving—not the material things given to us, but the small ways that we find a way to give something to others.
Why not think about offering your hand to someone this Thanksgiving and each day thereafter. Let it be that which you give of yourself which makes a difference, and for which others are thankful.
