Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

Just this morning, I received the email below from Mackenzie Richter, a fellow Team Schein Member who spent some years working for us in London before returning to the United States this year to serve as the Executive Director of our U.S. Dental sales team. Her experience as an American in London during Thanksgiving so perfectly captures the spirit of this most American holiday that I thought I would share the email in its entirety.

Team,

First let me say, I LOVE THANKSGIVING.

I spent the last three Thanksgivings abroad. While it was difficult to be away from my dear family and friends, the lessons learned made it worth it. My first year, I remember sitting in a meeting looking at my watch at 5:30 in the afternoon, considering that I had about two hours of London rush hour ahead of me, and thinking, my family is going to kill me. But when I walked through the door that night, Thanksgiving was perfect.

Last year, I took the day off, pulled my kids out of school, and attended a Thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral with hundreds of other American expats. Never in my life have I felt such pride or community as I did when our Marines walked the American Flag down the center of that gorgeous, 300-year-old English church. Thanksgiving, once again, was perfect.   

When we were kids, we learned about how Native Americans extended great kindness to the Pilgrims and, voilà, Thanksgiving! But what I learned being away from home during my favorite time of year is that Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. When we celebrate Thanksgiving, we celebrate that we are a people who take a stand when things need to change, we are a people who take risks to make our lives better, we fight for our values, ideas and progress, and most of all, we are a people who choose to recognize that we are incredibly blessed and we celebrate that gratitude.  

There are over 22,000 Team Schein families throughout the world whose lives are improved by our American dental team. I am proud of, and thankful for, each one of you. May your Thanksgiving be perfect.  

Although we live in challenging times in the U.S. and abroad, I remain convinced and highly optimistic that the values we celebrate at Thanksgiving will endure.