Do not be a turkey

It was the last Thursday of November and I was invited to the home of a very respected family to celebrate Thanksgiving. There it was. A big sumptuous Turkey on top of the dinner table and upon seeing it, my mind began to work. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as fervently as America does but we sure have a lot of things to be thankful about.

But I guess the naughty side of me began to take effect.

I remember the story of an American family that sat around the table. Before they began their Thanksgiving feast, each member spoke a few words about what they were thankful for. 

Little Johnny’s dad was thankful for the raise at work. Grandma was thankful for the long life she had lived. Mom was thankful for her loving family.

When it was Johnny’s turn, he hesitated. After a few moments of thought, he said, “I’m thankful that I’m not a turkey!”

Let’s look at the turkey’s perspective this time in the form of a poem purportedly written by one. The turkey says:

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,

My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,

And he told me there was something that I had to know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,

When he told me of the horrors of . . . Black November;

“Come about August, now listen to me,

Each day you’ll get six meals instead of just three,

“And soon you’ll be thick, where once you were thin,

And you’ll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin;

“And then one morning, when you’re warm in your bed,

In will burst the farmer’s wife, and hack off your head;

“Then she’ll pluck out all your feathers so you’re bald ‘n pink,

And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin’ in the sink;

“And then comes the worst part” he said not bluffing,

“She’ll spread you open and pack you up with stuffing”.

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,

I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,

And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,

I’d have to lay low and remain overlooked;

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,

High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;

And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,

I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,

And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;

But ’twas I who was laughing, under my breath,

As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;

And sure enough when Black November rolled around,

I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;

So now I’m a pet in the farmer’s wife’s lap;

I haven’t a worry, so I eat and I nap;

She held me today, while sewing and humming,

And smiled at me and said “Christmas is coming . . .”

I guess in a way we need to remember that we’re not too different from turkeys. As a people we eat almost six times a day and we usually stuff into our system junk food and unhealthy stuff.

Listen. With the situation in our land today we simply cannot afford to get sick.

And yet the number of people who eat correctly and do regular exercise is many times less than those who don’t.

I guess in a deeper way we need to remind ourselves never to grow too comfortable and be complacent.

Either in protecting ourselves against moral compromises or in the way we take good care of our health.

Even in our Christian walk we have been reminded by the Word of God to be vigilant, to walk in the Spirit and to resist the wiles of the evil one.

With God’s grace and much prayer, this can be done.

No choice. I don’t think I’ll end up on top of a dinner table but I don’t want to look like a turkey either.

(Francis Kong will be the lead trainer for the Dr. John Maxwell’s “Developing the Leader Within You” leadership program this December 9-10 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. 632-6872614)