If Turkeys Thought, They’d Run Away a Week Before Thanksgiving Day…

“If Turkey thought, they’d run away a week before Thanksgiving Day. But Turkeys can’t anticipate, and so there’s turkey on my plate.”

Jack Prelutsky

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and followers! Wishing you a happy and joyous Thanksgiving sourrounded by your loved ones around a lovely Turkey dinner. This tradition started almost 200 years ago following an epic tale where pioneer spirit, courage, adversity, generosity, and gratitude took center stage.

For this occasion, I would like to serve you an article where la pièce de résistance is a turkey and for those who don’t like turkey, you can have swan instead. We always talk about the turkeys that end up being served for dinner and much less about the wild ones who have quite an exciting life. Not all turkeys end up on the dining table at Thanksgiving dinner, the wild types prefer to proudly strut their stuff, look pretty, act wild, and live a long and happy life. Wild turkeys’ life expectancy can stretch up to 10 years, domesticated turkeys would be lucky if they make it to their first birthday.

Turkeys were considered sacred by ancient Mexican cultures like the Aztecs and Mayans, who honored turkeys for their striking beauty and cocky confidence and pride. Certain Native American tribes also honored turkey as a spirit of abundance, sacrifice and, fertility. As a spirit animal, the turkey reminds us to honor ourselves, to honor the earth and, to care for and nourish both. Cultivating a harmonious relationship with the Earth is one of the key teachings of turkey’s wisdom. And one we are surely in need of in the world today. Turkeys are also a strong symbol of the importance of community, sharing , authentic connection and remind us to be grateful and aware of the many blessings we have in our life.

My thanksgiving message, be like the wild turkey

Did you know that wild turkeys can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and can fly as 55 miles per hour? Domesticated turkeys lost their ability to run fast and to fly due to their selective breeding aimed to make them grow abnormally big and much less agile than their wild cousins. Captivity and laziness turned a fast-flying bird into a stagnant piece of meat

Wild turkeys are social, playful birds who are intelligent and have distinct personalities, and, just like dogs and cats they can be quite moody. They are incredibly curious and inquisitive animals who enjoy exploring, they are really good at geography and can learn the details of really large areas which is especially good for finding food. They like flirting and when they see a female that they fancy they put up a show to impress her showing off their beautiful feathers.

My feathers are easily ruffled. Every now and then I get broody. My favorite thing is to gobble-up attention and makes it all about me. I proudly strut my stuff whenever I have the chance to do so. Keep your eyes on me, I like being the center of attention. Thanksgiving sounds great. What’s for dinner?

WIld-Turkey

Nasim Taleb’s thanksgiving message to all of us, let’s not be turkeys

Nasim Nicholas Taleb, the best-selling author of The Black Swan, told the story of a turkey who is fed by the farmer every morning for 1,000 days. Eventually, the turkey comes to expect that every visit from the farmer means more good food. He is quite comfortable with his lifestyle. He figures that he is living the good life, hanging out on the farm with his friends and being fed every day by the friendly farmer, who is looking after him quite well by making sure he eats well and continue to grow and put up on a good amount of weight. Turkey came to the realization that the bigger he is the happier the farmer seems to be. Hence, there is a bit of competition on the farm amongst the turkeys to put on as much weight as possible in order to gain the favors of the farmer.

But then day 1001 arrives. It is 2 days before Thanksgiving and when the farmer shows up, he is not bearing food, but an ax. Turkey learns very quickly that its expectations were catastrophically off the mark. On Thanksgiving Day, Turkey gets more attention than he has ever received before, he is taking center stage as the main dish at the dinner table.

Let’s not be turkeys. The moral of the story is not to use the observable past as an indicator of the future. Just because you never died before, doesn’t mean you are immortal.

Nassim Taleb

And this my dear friend is your Quest.

Talking about Nassim Taleb and his book the Black Swan, I am thinking that maybe we should have something a little different this year for Thanksgiving, instead of having turkey we are going to have swan instead because you get more stuffing.

PS: I am grateful for my family, my friends, my readers, and my followers. Thank you all for your love and continuous support. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Personal Note

In addition to publishing my articles on my website, I have also been publishing on Medium. I have been working closely for the past months with Data-Driven Investor (DDI) Publication.  DDI has recently launched a new marketplace/platform where people can book a paid one-to-one session with an expert of their choice.  DDI asked me to join their panel of advisors/experts in the Leadership, Coaching, and Personal Growth category.  Here is my profile. If you wish to book a one-to-one chat with me you can do so on this platform.

For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com