Thankful?

Hmm....

How is one supposed to act when attending a thanksgiving dinner where you know full well that you are handing out with a bunch of damn liars and hypocrites?

I'm pretty sure its not the way I acted last night.

Last night I hungout at a dinner party where most the people were family members of mine. There were many recognizable faces. Some were very old faces, some were mid-aged faces, some were young faces.

Then there was the semi-recognizable face. The woman who I've meet once and seen many times. The same women who is a full-blown alcoholic and who is wealthy enough that she is able to gamble 16 hours a day if she chooses. And most days, she chooses to do that.

Looking back at last night I think she was the most real person there. With maybe the exception of my father.

Last night should have went better. This morning I realized that.

This Morning

A story that Joe recently told was brought to mind. The story of Jesus hanging out with the pharisee having dinner. The same story where the prostitute cries at Jesus' feet. And then she precedes to wipe his feet with her hair.

After being reminded of the story, I re-read it. I found something interesting. I saw my situation. I saw Jesus hanging out with a bunch of damn liars and hypocrites. I saw Jesus hanging out with the full blown alcoholic and loving her. The same people Jesus hungout with I too hungout with. The same story? No!

What's the difference?

Jesus VS Ramon

Jesus reclined at the table, partaking in the conversation.

Ramon reluctantly reclined at the table, scoffing at the the Damn liars and Hypocrites.

Jesus interacted with the pharisee.

Ramon remained quiet.

Jesus called-out the pharisee on his judgmental attitude towards the prostitute.

Ramon feed his judgmental attitude all night with placards of how hypocritical and how devious these damn liars were.

Jesus allowed the prostitute to warm up to him. He allowed her to touch him. She bathed him.

Ramon, too caught up in the hypocrites and liars, missed the moments where the full-blown alcoholic women verbally expressed her life with us. She said very little, but she said enough.

Jesus would have respected his mother.

Ramon disrespected his.

Am I thankful?

My mother and I had a chat this morning. It started off with my mom sharing her feelings about the dinner party. It then went from there with me saying "mom, I'm mad at you...and here is the reason why."

She consented that what she did was hurtful.

Later today, she and I spoke again. She again apologized for hurting my feelings.

I too apologized for acting the way I acted. I reassured her that what she did wasn't that big of a deal. It really wasn't. But it was at the time because emotional things had been piling on top of one another.

We ended our conversation like this: Mom, I forgive you. But what all three of us (mom, dad and me) need is to treat each other better.

We both agreed.

So, yes, I am thankful.