Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

I got somewhat introspective this Thanksgiving holiday season.

A friend asked me to recall my best Thanksgiving.

I answered that with, “Are you talking about the meal?”

If so, that would have been Thanksgiving, 1972.

I was stationed with the United States Air Force in Sondrestromfiord, Greenland.

We had Danish contract cooks who prepared our daily meals.

For Thanksgiving that year, the chow hall was classed up.

We had white table linens and candles on the tables.

There were printed menus at each seat.

The food was incredible!

From a meal quality standpoint, this layout was unmatched.

And yet, it was not my favorite Thanksgiving.

It was at the ripe, old age of 22 that I finally realized that Thanksgiving was more than just a great meal.

I was not a happy Airman.

It was my first holiday away from my family.

Neav and I were still a young, married couple and our older daughter Nikki was soon to be born.

They were both staying with her folks while i was overseas.

All those years prior to 1972, I thought Thanksgiving was just a huge meal with a lot of relatives crowded around the dinner table plus card tables and fold-out chairs to accommodate the turnout.

The dreaded “kid’s table”.

We would gather in a huge circle, join hands and my Father-in-law would say grace.

Then we would dig in.

Can you O-D on dressing and turkey gravy?

If it was possible, I would already be gone.

I would have some pumpkin pie with my Cool Whip.

Plates and forks?

Nah!

A good slice of pumpkin pie fits nicely in my hand with a generous dollop of whipped cream atop.

There were Thanksgiving meals when my sisters and I would squabble over pieces of luscious brown turkey skin as the bird was being carved.

It was then I thought it was time for someone to cross-breed a gobbler with a flappy-skinned Shar-Pei dog.

Can’t have too much browned turkey skin at those meals!

After eating, the men would retire to the living room with tummies full of food to nod off during another boring Detroit Lions/Chicago Bears football game while the women played cards or just chatted.

Then, whenever we could breathe again, we’d wobble into the kitchen and load plates with leftovers for another round of gluttony.

Thank God for microwave ovens!

Later, it would be time to divide the leftovers up before we headed home.

Thank God for all those empty Cool Whip containers!

They were perfect for taking home portions of the remaining food.

A lot of those people who sat around those tables are no longer with us.

But, their seats have been filled by younger family members and their special ones.

The “circle of hands” still precedes the meal.

I often catch myself just glancing around the room, looking at the gathering, noting missing faces and new ones.

It made me wonder how a recent New York University study said more Americans today value “eudaimonia” above looking out for families.

The pursuit of self-interest.

That’s probably driven by the Internet.

It’s caused a massive shift away from the “public good” towards individual gratification.

Honestly, I don’t think the real purpose or meaning of “eudaimonia” is to have us believe family and those emotions are not important.

But I come from a background where family is a constant.

Looking at today’s society, that probably puts the Fosters in the minority.

The concept of “eudaimonia” is central to Aristotle’s philosophy and is achieved though rational activity in accordance with virtue.

“Eudaimonia” is a state of being, not a feeling; an objective state of being a good, virtuous and flourishing human, rather than a subjective, emotional state.

But, to me, families and emotions are like Siamese twins.

I believe we can be a good, virtuous and flourishing human and still balance that with the subjective emotional state of families.

We are who we area because of those we call family.

Spending time with them for a big November meal still means much to me.

American poet and educator Francisco X. Alarcon said, “I carry my roots with me, all the time rolled up. I use them as my pillow”.

Happy Thanksgiving.