Image Credit: Norman Rockwell ©1943 SEPS: The Curtis Publishing Co., Agent via the National Archives.
Make sure to take time today to contemplate why you are thankful.
This Thanksgiving I am feeling especially thankful for the family and friends with whom God has seen fit to bless me. I am thankful that last year one of those dear friends shared the this video with me. I hope it touches your heart as it did mine:
I am allso very thankful that our forefathers were wise enough to establish a nation under God and provide for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
As I've written before, the traditional Thanksgiving story is that some time in the fall of 1621, the settlers at Plymouth, Mass., held a feast to thank God they'd survived theiry harrowing first year in the New World.
They invited neighboring Indians, who had taught them agricultural skills critical to their survival. Together they celebrated their good fortune with a three-day feast.
There is a problem with the traditional story - no one invited the Indians.
The settlers threw the party for themselves. Members of the local Wampanoag tribe arrived only after hearing the English firing their arms in celebration. This view may be more historically accurate.
A firsthand account of the original Thanksgiving is provided in "Mourt's Relations," a series of letters written in 1620 and 1621, primarily by settler Edward Winslow.
He writes of a harvest celebration, "at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor."
Actually, the harvest of 1621 wasn't great at all. The barley, wheat, and peas the Pilgrims brought with them from EnglanFreedom From Wantd had failed. Fortunately, the corn did well enough that they were able to double their weekly food rations.
The Pilgrims were happy to be alive: The previous winter had wiped out 47 people--almost half their community.
What people are thankful for changes from year to year.
The Founding Fathers were happy to have established a government. And Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation expressed thanks that the Civil War had not destroyed the country.
On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress. His "Four Freedoms" offered a vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties were extended throughout the world:
Four Freedoms We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.
The speech inspired Norman Rockwell to create a series of paintings on the "Four Freedoms," including "Freedom From Want."
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