By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Nov. 16, the Interfaith House (IF) hosted an open-table discussion about what people are thankful for.
Sophomore Anna Davies facilitated this discussion for her house project to encourage people to join together before the break and spread her house message, which is to spread interfaith, cooperation, love and tolerance.
The event brought together people of both faith based and non-faith based backgrounds to express to each other how thankful they are.
“I really wanted it to be a time to pause with how busy it is this time of year and just reflect on things that make us happy to be alive,” Davies said.
Coming from a religious background and a small-town setting, Davies aimed to make the event simple and easy for people to discuss how thankful they are without angling the discussion towards religious aspects.
One attendee, senior Olivia Lease, said her favorite part of the event was interacting with new people. The local Mormon Missionaries attended, as well, adding more viewpoints to the discussion.
The discussion started out with the basic question of what people were thankful for. People also discussed a specific moment in their life that solidified that thankfulness and also the importance of community in their lives.
Attendees also considered the various ways people express gratitude, whether it being through letters or hugs. Each one is a unique moment of sincerity in it’s own form, said Lease.
“We get caught up in things that frustrate us and things that are momentarily stressful, but in the long term there are so many things we are thankful for,” Lease said.