Stop at the Red Apple (Excelsior Editions) by Elaine Freed Lindenblatt

Author:Elaine Freed Lindenblatt [Lindenblatt, Elaine Freed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Excelsior Editions
Published: 2014-09-17T22:00:00+00:00

43

Giving Thanks

Back in 1941, a law was enacted finalizing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving. I guess they realized that by the time I was two months old I’d be on the lookout for a decent meal. And so the country took a day off to give thanks—not knowing that only two weeks later, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we would be thrust into World War II.

Daddy worked hard for everything he had, and humbly appreciated his good fortune. We were taught by example to do the same. If I did feel a sense of entitlement over some material things, it was more than offset by having to strive—sometimes in vain—for all the really good stuff that money can’t buy. Much of which was the genetic luck of the draw—physically, mentally, emotionally.

Whether we were ready to kiss the customer or strangle him, we always completed a transaction with a thank you. Because regardless of the circumstances, that was the right thing to do—and glaringly absent from a lot of other businesses. It was as basic as charging the correct price or making the exact change or helping him find the brand of chewing gum he wanted or giving accurate directions to the Quickway. Gratitude, for Daddy, ran as deep as the last customer and as wide as the next one. He was grateful to each and every one of them.

In a wishy-washy world, here was a man with the strength of his convictions. Not that he didn’t listen to others’ advice—maybe Herbie’s or Neal’s when it came to the business—but he would then retreat into his inner reality, where he reasoned things out alone and reached decisions. He took that to be his privilege—and his responsibility. Many of his actions, nearly all of his thoughts and feelings, were private. He did not share them readily.

What he did share were his earthly goods. Daddy did not need a date on the calendar to give thanks; he gave it every day by giving back—to those in need. When his quiet acts of generosity—within the family, the community, the world—became known, he was not a gracious receiver. He was bewildered by gratitude directed at him; he neither wanted nor needed it. The support of an orphaned cousin or Thanksgiving dinners for the entire school—what did it matter? The act of giving was reward enough, the fulfillment of his own moral code.

As for Thanksgiving, it became a special time for us. The week of the holiday, Sal went down to Tuxedo with the food and organized the school kitchen. “The management of the Red Apple Rest cooperated with the PTA and the cafeteria staff in preparing and serving dinner to over 300 children, with chef Salvatore Cortese on hand to carve the birds,” reported the Rockland Independent, a local paper. At first it was strange for me to see him in that setting—but then he looked perfectly at home there, year after year, keeping an eye on everything.

Back at the restaurant,

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