Happy Thanksgiving

It seems as though not even Thanksgiving is immune from politicization this year. The right has taken this opportunity to make a "statement" on personal freedoms surrounding TSA agents, the left is trying to rewrite history by claiming that the first Pilgrims were Communists (I thought Commies didn't believe in God) and that the Pilgrims' first thanksgiving feast was a "secular" occurance (There is a particularly odious [and willfully inaccurate] article along those lines in today's Huffington Post).

Just a few points to put Thanksgiving in perspective. While there is considerable dispute as to whether the Pilgrims were the first to host a thanksgiving feast in the New World they have become synonymous with the holiday and for good reason. Their story of perseverance, survival and cooperation is nothing short of astounding. I'll even give you that they (initially) had some pretty socialistic tendencies (if you showed up in a largely unexplored and at times openly hostile foreign land with little more than a few tools and the clothes on your back, you'd probably want to work as a team too). The wholly unexpected alliance they formed with Massasoit and his Pokanoket tribe and first, bountiful harvest following a devastating winter that killed 46 of the original 102 settlers was, in actuality, a week-long celebration in 1621 attended by the 46 pilgrims and 90 Indians. While neither of the brief, two surviving original sources detailing this occasion directly mention God its patently foolish to assume the settlers did not offer thanks to Him for their Indian allies and overwhelmingly successful first harvest.

Many of the articles you read will probably give Abraham Lincoln credit for establishing the United States' first Thanksgiving holiday, and while it is true that Lincoln did establish the modern iteration (in 1863 proclaiming, "...the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.") it was our first President, George Washington (at the behest of Congress) who established the United States' first Thanksgiving celebration.

Washington's proclamation makes no reference to Pilgrims, Indians or a bountiful harvest. His words, written in 1789, call upon the American people to acknowledge, "...the many signal favors of Almighty God," chief among them in Washington's estimation, the opportunity to establish a form of government to provide for the people's "safety and happiness."

This year I hope that we, as Americans, will unite in celebrating the one factor uniting each of these distinct visions of Thanksgiving. An abiding faith in, devotion and thanks to God for all the many blessings He has bestowed upon us.

Happy Thanksgiving.