Thoughts for Thanksgiving- What it Means to Give the Best of Ourselves

Some thoughts for this thanksgiving, on what it means to give the best of ourselves in everything we do.

I wrote in a previous blog:

"So living our lives the best we can and giving the best of ourselves in everything we do- in our work, with our friends, loved ones, and fellow citizens- that is the way to battle the ugliness described in the article of which my friend refers".

And how do we do this, when at times the world can treat each of us so brutally- through forgiveness, in order to walk forward to the possibilities in the future with an open heart.

"The real fecundity of the will, its magic and its transformative character is shown when malice is transformed in the ethical in the act of human forgiveness. In the divine-like sweep of forgiveness, malice is transformed into the Ethical. It is here where the act becomes relation, in the negative act of anti-violence. Here is where we create something, ex nihilo, in an ethical effort towards another. It is how man lives from pain. It is context meeting its opposite in a moment where man becomes/ approaches, God; and God becomes/approaches man. It is formation and reformation, an emergence and affirmation simultaneously.

Forgiveness is the only beauty, the only creation".

(from The Kant Variations, the Chapter- Emmanuel Levinas and the Love of Knowledge)

Everyone- have a warm and safe thanksgiving.