Thanksgiving – Then & Now

My friend’s “Letter-to-the-Editor” was printed on Thanksgiving Day, 2018. It was in response to an article about President Roosevelt’s proclamation of “Thanksgiving Day”, referencing Presidents Washington’s and Lincoln’s gratitude for God’s blessings on America.

He read President Roosevelt’s Proclamation to his family as they sat down for their Thanksgiving Day dinner. Each family member was experiencing something different: from medical & physical challenges to athletic achievement. From job loss to career advancement. From a sparse apartment to a large home.

Yet, each one was grateful for God’s blessings, because each one understood the random, defenseless occurrence of the slings & arrows of outrageous fortunes, to whom no one is immune.

“If you can meet with Triumph & Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same”, then you can enjoy a Genuine Thanksgiving, that will make you SMILE.

Isn’t it odd:

That George Washington, presiding over a nation wobbling on the newborn legs of Freedom and Democracy, would proclaim for citizens, to thank God for their blessings midst the political turmoil of divided allegiance?

That Abraham Lincoln, presiding over a nation torn-in-two by those Not believing that ALL men are created equal, would proclaim for citizens to thank “Our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens”, for their blessings, midst the harvest of war’s carnage, on once pristine farm fields?

That Franklin D. Roosevelt, presiding over a nation crushed by economic job-less depression, would proclaim for citizens to thank God for their blessings, midst the brutal poverty of the homeless, starving, and sick? Roosevelt would remind citizens that “Americans have thanked God for their blessings. In our deepest natures. In our very souls, we turn to God in times of trouble and in times of happiness.”?

That from those days, at almost 70-year intervals, to this day, almost 70 years later, Our Culture dragged God out of our marketplaces and homes, to worship instead, at the altar of door-buster gizmos and gadgets and other self-indulgent stuff to satisfy our wants.

Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Johnny Cash  thought that we should be Thankful for what we have.

That music video expresses the essence of what Thanksgiving Day means.

Happy Thanksgiving.