Thanksgiving – A Time for Gratitude

Thanksgiving without gratitude is like a flower garden without flowers or autumn without a change of leaves.
The beauty is lost.

Imagine this: Over 400 years ago, you and 101 others sailed across the ocean in a small ship to land in an unknown region. You’re packed in like sardines with no amenities. You’re a spec in the middle of nowhere day and night until you finally see land. Due to storms, you’re off course and don’t reach the intended destination on the Hudson River. Before going ashore, you must resolve the conflict of dishonoring the land charter granted by England or devise a viable solution. Fortunately, the dilemma is successfully resolved through a pact designed by two natural leaders who were able to prevent separatism and focus on the “good of the colony.” Democracy sets its roots in America for the first time. Then, once on land, you struggle to survive. You have makeshift materials and supplies, and even though more than half the population is sick or dies, the healthiest cobble together a primitive settlement. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pilgrim-Fathers). You practically freeze to death from the bitter cold; you must figure out how to build, hunt, fish, and stay warm. Now, imagine that the following year, with depleted labor and resources, starvation is inevitable. However, despite intrusion into their land, the Wampanoag tribe stepped forward and teach you how to harvest crops. This celebration, the successful joint harvest in the Fall of 1621, marks the first Thanksgiving celebration. (https://visit.archives.gov/whats-on/explore-exhibits/thanksgiving-historical-perspectives).

Now compare life from then to now. We have clothes and heat to keep us warm, and we don’t fish or hunt, instead, we go to the grocers for food. We don’t saw down trees to build small homes.

My earliest Thanksgiving memories originated at my grandmother’s and were always abundant. She made golden turkeys stuffed with cornbread and cranberries and glazed hams surrounded by heaping bowls of green vegetables, creamy mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, and homemade apple pies with a lattice crust and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It’s all cooked in modern appliances and not in a firepit. Or sometimes, with just the click of a finger, it’s delivered right to our door. No icicles dangling from a firewood ax or someone’s beard. No holes in worn-out clothing or boots, skin and bones, and lack of medicine. No need to be at the mercy of an Indigenous population to teach about harvesting crops. I never think about the moon or gravity or soil — I take it all for granted when I’m selecting polished fruits and vegetables neatly organized on shelves in the produce department.

At this time of year, we need to harvest gratitude more than anything else. It’s too easy to focus on the stress of the holidays and not the fact that we enjoy the greatest lifestyles in the world — all because of those early settlers and the Wampanoag and their massive contributions.

I’m excited about Thanksgiving this year. I will be grateful for the Mayflower Compact – the first unifying document that began our spiritual unity and freedom.

I’ll reflect on our country’s history, the first settlers, and my friends and family who are here because of them. I won’t allow myself to grumble about preparation and a sink full of dirty dishes. I’m going to be glad I have food-a-plenty and lots of nice dishes and friends to share with. A warm, safe home and well-fed kiddies giggling and running in circles as I chase them with a pink plastic shark.

Most of all, I’m grateful for the freedom to worship as we please — a consciousness and gift from those who did something I doubt I’d had the courage to do. I can’t imagine myself leaving my homeland, braving high seas in a small wooden ship without a Navi, with strangers and meager supplies, and not knowing what hostilities I’ll face when the destination is finally reached. Then, for all that, disease and death are all around me, and I must trust strangers to help me — who look and act differently and, quite frankly, scare me because I don’t understand them at all. I have no clue about that kind of courage, but I do know this. Their efforts have afforded our country many blessings now. For this, I am eternally grateful.

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