The First Thanksgiving in America

Both Presidents Lincoln and Washington knew that giving thanks to our creator was an essential factor in defining our nation. They knew that Thanksgiving was an essential part of who we were. Lincoln asked all of us individually to take a moment and reflect upon this day and give thanks for our individual blessings. He knew the resolve of the American people. Through this reflection, we would share those blessings with others, as well. Not out of obligation, but as thanks.

One of our countries greatest assets is the fact that the United States of America is the bastion of Liberty in the world. Our nation did not fight for a monarchy or a religious leader, nor did we fight for a President, or leader. We fought for individual freedom and Liberty. We fought for the rights of our constitution. We fought for the noblest of causes; we fought for each other and for our families.

In 1863, as the US Civil War raged around him, President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Thanksgiving a national holiday to commemorate a single day of thanks and reflection. President Lincoln understood more than anyone, that the greatest measure of devotion given by the men who died for their country both past present and future would define who we are as a nation, and who we will ultimately become. Our first President. George Washington originally created a national celebration of Thanksgiving on November 26, 1789. It was initially thought of as a way for the country to join together for a single day of thoughtful prayer to give thanks for all of our blessings.

Lately, Thanksgiving has become somewhat corrupted to ultimately become a celebration complete with parades, football games, and the official start of the holiday season. Probably last on the list is thanking our creator — God — for the blessings we have as a nation.

Sadly, a day that was initially scheduled as a way for healing and giving thanks to God for all of our blessings have been hijacked by selfish commercialism and sports. Television has taken our families away from the dinner table, and the commercialism of Christmas has even moved families to stores and shopping Malls. It official the start of the holiday buying season. Once, it was a day of reflection and prayer. Now it has become a march to the stores for the “best deals” of the year. The Macy’s day parade and others used to signify the start of the holiday season to begin the following day — Friday. However, to get a start on the ultimate buying spree on the first day of shopping, it has been moved to start on Thanksgiving Day. People have been taken from their families to get to work and sell. Retailers realizing that people are home that day have capitalized on the moment of weakness. Families eager to spend less time with each other and more time at the mall have moved their celebrations to the big box stores and their Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day sales.

While our country’s spirituality has decreased and our cultural narcissism has increased, we have moved our perspective away from giving thanks, and using the day to point blame for our imperfections. Many people, for whatever reason, have abandoned our churches and patriotism to blaming everyone for our issues. We have moved from respecting each other to disrespecting everyone. If you disagree with someone, they become mocked and ridiculed using social media. We have devolved debate to slander as the final rallying call. Bullying has now become the new national pastime. In the United States of America — it is now officially acceptable to call someone who disagrees with a slanderous name without any proof. We can now call for the impeachment of our President because we do not like them, or we disagree with them — rather than wait for an election. If enough agree, it is now a mission to remove anyone disagreeing with you. As Stalin’s aid, Louis Beria said, “show me the man, I will find the crime,” (give us a few years and endless inquiries), it will become apparent to all.

What was one of our countries greatest assets was the fact that the United States of America was the bastion of Liberty in the world. Our nation did not fight for a monarchy or a religious leader, nor did we fight for a President, or leader. We fought for individual freedom and Liberty. We fought for the rights of our constitution. We fought for the noblest of causes; we fought for each other and for our families.

In the United States of America, we did not fight for each other because we are related to one another by blood, or by name. No one in this country has any more rights than anyone else; we share a common bond of freedom. I know many who would defend your freedom to their death. We fought for each other because we are good people with the belief that each of us has the same rights as the other person, regardless of their skin color, religious affiliation, or their social standing. We protected those values, and in wars of the past, we have stood up against those who chose to take those rights away from others. We defended the defenseless, and we stood up and created civil rights because of that, grew up believing there are no elites in this country, and we knew that to be accurate because our founding document the Constitution of the United States defined it for our country. It is our mission statement. Everyone who has lived and died in this country knows in their soul that we are part of the greatest nation in history.

Is this country perfect? — Far from it. Are there moments in our history that we need to look back upon with a level of upset or disdain? — Absolutely! Instead of using them to learn, we are using them as a club to beat ourselves. We seem to be falling for the trap that has been set by those who want to tear us down from within. What has made us a great country has been our unity and resolve, our ability to stand shoulder to shoulder to defend each other and to protect the defenseless. By dividing our country into factions of hate, we are tearing down the greatness that made us who we are. As Lincoln said, we can only be destroyed from within.

The first place to start to tear down our nation is to start with the symbols of our freedom, and the Liberty that we all share as citizens of this great nation.

In the United States of America, we fight because we believe in the rights and privileges afforded to us by those who Lincoln said “gave their last measure of devotion to their country,” and to all of us. In a way, we are different than other nations — we fight for one another — for our friends and neighbors. We defend them with our lives and our sacred honor. Our symbol of that Freedom is our Flag.

Unfortunately, that flag, which was a symbol of the unity and freedom that people fought and died to protect and defend — the emblem of that liberty, has now become the unlikely symbol of all that we fought against — Division. Some have focused on our flag as a symbol of deception and dishonor. To some, it is a symbol of racism and hatred. The flag is no longer a symbol of LIBERTY to be defended, at all costs, or to pledge allegiance to. It has become the symbol of disdain. It has grown to some as a symbol of who we have devolved to as a country.

As a Citizen of the United States OF America — I personally take offense to that belief. I hold true to my belief that our Flag is a symbol of liberty and of what we aspire to be. Not just here, but throughout the world.

Thanksgiving was once a day to gather and to give thanks to our Creator for all of our blessings. A day of reflection about all we have been given as a nation — our freedom and our liberty. We used to speak of “The First Thanksgiving” with reverence, as a symbol of inviting our neighbors together to share a meal and thank our creator — our God — for all the blessings he had bestowed upon us. Putting down our differences and joining in prayer and thanks. For the pilgrims, we were told it was a tough time, and at that moment, they reached out to their neighbors in friendship to share the blessings of the harvest. We were told it was a noble and just gesture.

The one thing you can count on liberals to do is to add to divisiveness to any equation calling to out to itself noble. The equation is to provide is a critique of the origins of our nation, and to decry its dishonesty and illegitimacy. To liberal historians such as Howard Zinn, we hear that our country was founded by racist thieves who plundered those who lived here 600 years ago. According to the liberal pundits, we should have nothing to be thankful for, and we should resolve the fact that the holiday known to all called thanksgiving is a farce!

I totally reject this theory, and I intend to spend the day thanking my God and enjoying the day with my family and friends.

My life is far from perfect, I have been unemployed for most of the year, I am looking for a new opportunity in this great nation. But I have much to be thankful for this holiday season as anyone. I married the love of my life almost 20 years ago. We have shared a home and raised a family together. We raised a family in the American dream. We are still in love and honor one another. We have healthy grandchildren, and we are living in the greatest country the world has ever created.

Doses this country have problems and issues? I can guarantee that! As a family of people, we know that no family is perfect, and we all have imperfections and issues. We have opinions that divide us and fracture us. Yet, as most families do, they settle their differences, and take a moment to thank each other for what we have!

I know our nation has had its share of blemishes and we have some who take advantage of others, but I will reject the theory that we are to throw out all of our values, because of a few who do not look out after their neighbors. People defend us, represent us, and defend our values and our liberties. We have police officers and firemen who enter buildings to protect the defenseless. We have soldiers who defend our liberty daily, and because of them, we are able to go about our day without fear.

However, many will question their motives, tell them they no longer fight for the rights of others, that they are selfishly motivated. Watch when we do that, how fast our country will devolve. Tell people that there are rules that only apply to a select few, and watch how liberty will end, not in a generation but an instant!

There are still many who will defend the honor of the defenseless, who will look for the good in others. Thank God for all of them. I thank God that I was able to grow up and prosper in the greatest country the world has ever seen. I thank God for the ability to stand up as a citizen of this great nation, and pledge my allegiance to the symbol of our country — our flag. I thank God for my country and the Liberty and freedoms that it represents. I do not make millions and then decry to others who are less fortunate, that they have no right to be thankful, that they are not justified in their belief in their country. I bend my knee in devotion, not to mock the symbol of what people fought and died to protect.

I know that if there are imperfections as a nation, that we as a nation will work together to resolve them. We have been doing that for over 240 years, and we will continue to do so.

Those who signed the Declaration of independence — the founding document of our country, said clearly that they were fighting for their (and our) sacred honor. They pledged their lives for this country, and every other patriot who has fought and lived defending our country has done the same thing. They fought for the freedom of speech, to be able to speak their truth to anyone.

More and more, we are moving towards removing freedoms instead of protecting them.

The First Amendment of our Constitution protects freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion; it has now devolved to “Freedom from Religion” and “Freedom of Speech that you agree with!”. There is “Hate Speech,” — I do not know where this term came from. We used to protect people’s liberty, and now we fight people and prevent others from speaking, from exercising their freedom of speech. We now fight these freedoms on campuses — supposedly the bastion of free thought. Freedom of speech is now fought because people do not agree with what is said. Our liberty is disrupted because some are fearful of what is said by others that might alter their agendas. When did this behavior become commonplace?

I ask those who are fighting the freedom of expression, speech, and thought if civil rights or civil disobedience would ever have had roots to grow in this environment. Could contrary speech ever be heard? Would Martin Luther King Jr. have ever made his “I Have a Dream Speech”? There were many at the time who disagreed with him as well. Contrary views are what makes free societies.

More and more, we are removing liberties that do not match someone’s view of the world in the present and applying it to a moment in time in the past. These people were never perfect and they never claimed to be perfect. They were people, with great thoughts and ideas. We, as a nation, are not perfect. But we should never be apologizing for our history; it is what made us who we are.

We should be learning from the past. I contrast the House un-American committee hearings of the 1950s and compare them to the conservative witch hunts today. Why have we not learned from the mistakes of the past? Why do we repeat them?

We cannot live life applying standards to past events, and discounting them as illegitimate, because they came from a time which people did not have the benefit of the future to justify their behavior. Ultimately TGHIS IS WHAT WILL DESTROY LIBERTY! Ultimately it will destroy all of our freedom.

If we destroy the 4th Annulment right of due process because the mob says it is convenient to do so, we will lose our liberty faster than a single generation Reagan predicted fifty years ago. If we take away, for example, the electoral college because it has become inconvenient, to the present, what happens when speech becomes inconvenient,? If we remove the freedom of liberty to the unborn because they are uncomfortable, when will the freedom of life and liberty be removed? At what age, will life no longer become precious? When will we be removing people from the earth because they do not pose a value to the world? It becomes a scary thought — one which devolves quickly if we let it.

We, as a nation, have fulfilled this promise.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving for all of my blessings, the one that I am most grateful for is my liberty and freedom. In the words of the great patriot Patrick Henry who said, “Give me Liberty, or give me death! “

Happy Thanksgiving

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