Thanksgiving Thoughts

While you stuff yourself as full as the turkey you are eating this Thursday, it is wise to pause to reflect upon the meaning of this truly American holiday. Fleeing religious intolerance, the Pilgrims sailed to America in 1620. They were greeted by local natives who taught them how to grow corn and find other food. Half of the Pilgrims died that first winter, but by the next harvest, a bounty of corn and game was collected. The Pilgrims invited their Indian friends to a feast to celebrate their good fortune and to give thanks to the Indians and God for their survival. Nowadays, some people will tell you that it is politically incorrect to call Native Americans "Indians" and that Thanksgiving is only a holiday for the "White Man" because of they way Indians have been exploited. I disagree. Its true, Native Americans were decimated by disease and war brought forth by whites in the years following the arrival of Europeans. However, I think Thanksgiving should be an official tribute to Native Americans as a means to honor them for helping the Colonists survive in the infancy of America. It should also honor those Native Americans who died defending their lands against the spread of the early United States when our government broke treaty after treaty. Also, Native Americans have served admirably in the United States armed forces most notably as elite code talkers during World War II. We as a country owe our very existence to the Native peoples who were here before us. They taught us how to use the local natural resources to survive, they gave up their native lands for our burgeoning population, and they fought for America against our enemies. Over the years, our perception of the meaning of Thanksgiving has changed. In 1789, George Washington declared a day of thanks for surviving the Revolutionary War. Over the years, it became a day to give thanks for anything and everything. Ultimately, it became an occasion to get together with family, eat a lot of food, and fall asleep watching football. I think all of that is fine, as long as we remember why we began celebrating this day in the first place: To thank our lucky stars and Native Americans for allowing us to live in the greatest country in the world. (Alex and I wrote a little story about Thanksgiving. The picture is a page from our book.)