A uniquely American holiday!

Having been absent and not able to post as often as I like, I feel like the wayward child returing home for this Thanksgiving message.

For me there are few things that are so utterly expressive and filled with so many of the totems of what it is the be an American as there are in the Thanksgiving celebration.

To so many people, no matter where they are, Thanksgiving Day is a joyous family festival when we gather with friends and family and take a moment to just “BE” with in the love of those in our lives and those we too seldom.

Thanksgiving's purpose has evolved countless times since the Pilgrims mythic celebration and other early harvest festivals, and yet no matter the evolving meanings or patriotic intentions or global-societal distractions or emphasis on football games or “the day-after” shopping stimuli, on Thanksgiving, we manage to continue to cull a singular, cohesive narrative that is forever emotionally electroplated to the holiday.

One of its unassailable qualities; the power to draw people together as among one of Thanksgivings most sustaining and endearing characteristics. Whether we are strangers sharing a meal or scattered relatives gathering together, spiritually minded and secular Americans alike on Thanksgiving continue to feel a lasting sentiment message of peace and togetherness, unlike on any other day.

On Thanksgiving Day, expressing gratitude for the small blessings and feasting with family is an integral our annual habit. Since the Nation’s founding, Thanksgiving has been a uniquely American holiday, engrained in who we are. Offering us an opportunity to not just to remember, but reflect on our history, and examine what it means to be American.

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789 with these words:


“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,…both Houses of Congress have requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed… that we may then all unite in … humble thanks for …for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; and particularly…the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed…

After a number of events and changes, President Lincoln proclaimed last Thursday in November of thanksgiving in the year 1863, due chiefly to the continuous efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of then popular Godey's Lady's Book, who deserves recognition as the Mother of the American Thanksgiving. The following editor's column was part of the long campaign by Sarah Josepha Hale to get Thanksgiving accepted as a national holiday in the United States.

We are most happy to agree with the large majority of the governors of the different States -- as shown in their unanimity of action for several past years, and which, we hope, will this year be adopted by all -- that the LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER shall be the DAY Of NATIONAL THANKSGIVING for the American people.

… when the noise and tumult of wordliness may be exchanged for the laugh of happy children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the humble gratitude of the Christian heart….

…drink, in the sweet draught of joy and gratitude to the Divine giver of all our blessings, the pledge of renewed love to the Union, and to each other; and of peace and good-will to all men.

In the poem "The Pumpkin" by 19th century poet John Greenleaf Whittier, the tradition of Thanksgiving is described in rich symbolism, as a time of remembrance and return, a celebration of abundance, both of sustenance and of love, of the family gathering.

And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow...

As we draw towards the close of the year and we gather with family and friends, let's reflect on these thoughts, appreciate the bounty of the harvest of our lives, and in whatever capacity we do, take count of our "blessings"

After what has seemed like a prolonged winter, many of us are filled and renewed with hope and faith in the idea of America and who we are. Yet we approach days that are sure to see uneasy transition to our society, our culture, as well as political and economic futures.

Thinking on how many times it seemed we were so close to losing the best of ourselves as Americans, I am again reminded of President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1863. These few words, so eloquent, like a prayer or incantation that draws us back to another tiem of rebirth and transition. It is at the heart of a spirit that is disappearing with frightening rapidity. A spirit that used to characterize and embody what Abraham Lincoln called, "the better angels of our nature."

From humble beginnings, this son of uneducated farmer pioneers, Lincoln’s life is an irrefutable demonstration of our dreams and of what is possible in America and his words articulate and epitomize the truest meaning of hope and peace and gratefulness of blessings received; all the things of Thanksgiving in America.

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

"Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom".

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy".

"It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union".