Dear Jessica Brennan,
People eat all sorts of things at Easter. We usually have salmon, some people have lamb and lots of people have turkey. Turkey is, of course, the Canadian go-to for holiday feasting. So this Easter, I thought I would write to you about an increasingly disappointing pattern that I call the Clark Griswold Turkey Syndrome. Try to follow me here because it may not be readily evident why this has anything to do with Easter because, to be honest, it doesn’t.
One thing I’ve noticed lately is that the Clark Griswold Turkey Syndrome is everywhere. Relationships, nations and corporations appear to be affected by it. Forget the bird flu or Zika virus. This turkey syndrome will kill us all faster than that, mostly because our ethical immune systems are getting all the more accustomed to tolerating it. Let me explain.
In the movie Christmas Vacation, after much fumbling with the holiday itself, the Griswolds finally sit down to what appears to be a beautiful turkey dinner.
From the script by John Hughes….
Clark says: Catherine if your turkey tastes half as good as it looks, we’re all in for a big treat.
Eddie says: Save the neck for me, Clark.
Clark puts the gleaming knife to the turkey. He punctures the hind end. A great gush of gas escapes.
The script goes on to tell us:
The skin separates like two hard, brown flower petals opening in time-lapse, exposing the breast meat. A beat and it falls from the bones in dry, dusty threads.
The beautiful turkey the family thought they were going to eat based on outward appearances was actually just dust inside.
Glossy countries feigning affluence, glossy candidates running for president, glossy marriages with plastic grins pasted on plastic faces, and glossy corporations winning bogus awards, yet what’s inside? With one peek, will it be like the Griswold’s turkey? Will it all fall from the bones in dusty threads?
As we make our Easter resolutions this year (as people do), let’s make sure that we don’t get Clark Griswold Turkey Syndrome poisoning. Let’s keep our relationships deeply authentic, our family business honest and soulful, and our loyalties true and non-egoic. These are choices we all can make.
Love you,
Mum xo
PS Hippity Hoppity…Dad says he wants a chocolate rabbit.