The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. It was a year later, 400 years ago now, that the survivors got together to celebrate the harvest with the native Wampanoag tribe—which included Chief Massasoit, Samoset, and Squanto, the only English-speaking native within hundreds of miles, all of whom had helped the Pilgrims survive and learn to plant a better (and earlier) crop than they had their first season.
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| "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims" by Robert Walter Weir image from Wikipedia |
Here’s a piece of the history, told in this American Thinker
article:
The truth is, when the Mayflower pilgrims and the Wampanoag
sat down for the first Thanksgiving in 1621, it was a routine—and amicable—harvest
celebration. Seven months prior to that feast, they had negotiated a peace
treaty, one that lasted for nearly 50 years. In fact, that 1621 treaty was the
only one between Native Americans and English colonists to be honored
throughout the lives of all who signed it. It was diseases such as smallpox and
leptospirosis that largely and tragically led to the decimation of the
Wampanoag tribe.
More on that last detail in a bit.
Thanksgiving Day hasn’t continued without missing years—or decades,
or centuries—since that time. One of the first Thanksgiving Day celebrations of
the newly formed United States of America was proclaimed by President George
Washington on October 3, 1789, marking the last Thursday of November than year
as “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging
with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.” Even after that
time, the celebration wasn’t continual. But it is a deeply entrenched tradition
now, and has been since well before my lifetime.
As many of us are doing, I am taking time with family. And I’m
doing a fair amount of cooking. We have a plethora of dogs with us this year
(our huge puppy is learning to welcome guests and perform other social graces).
We’re doing it because of tradition and the desire to be together. But we’re
also doing it because thankfulness is a beautiful thing to celebrate.
I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for several months
now. I think of plenty to be thankful for in prayers morning and night and in
between, but it is sometimes challenging to find the one thing worth writing
down every day. But social science suggests what scriptures have long told us,
that gratitude is a way to a happy life, so it has become a habit I want to
keep.
An attitude of gratitude is a definite plus in the
how-to-live-a-good-life advice. But it’s more than just an attitude; it is an
offering as a token of return, even if only a word of thanks. And thanks is not
simply about the things you’re thankful for; it’s about who you
give that thanks to. And while we often have people to thank for specific
things, this day is actually about giving thanks to God.
A study out of Brigham Young University “suggests gratitude
to God—and an indebtedness to Him—is far more meaningful and impactful than
simply gratitude alone. In other words, counting your blessings without
recognizing their source will not give you true happiness.”
When you give thanks this day, give it to God, to whom you
owe all blessings—even those you haven’t noticed yet.
In that American Thinker article, the surprising
thing is that there is something of a movement (that I hope does not gather any
more energy to move further) saying that we shouldn’t be thankful—for the
Pilgrims, for our great nation, for our prosperity; we should be sorrowful, and
probably ashamed. And therefore we should re-designate the day as a day of
mourning. Mourning, I’m assuming, that we as a people ever arrived on this
continent, or that the nation was ever formed.
The article’s author, Eric Utter, offers this commentary:
My oldest brother—who recently passed—had cancer, glaucoma,
and Alzheimer's—and when anyone asked him how he was doing, even shortly before
he died, he would reply, "Better than I deserve!"
I guess that is partly why I previously found Democrats'
incessant grievance-mongering and the cult of victimhood so repulsive and so damaging.
Dividing us by identity, I thought, is disgusting. Encouraging jealousy,
entitlement, and bitterness is a recipe for disaster. Wouldn't it be much
healthier for all of us as Americans to come together in the love of our
country, heritage, and unique founding ideals? Or our shared ordeals? I used to
believe that if we could all come together with gratitude, that itself would be
something for which we could all be thankful.
Apparently the “mourning” pushers think we should feel
guilty for "celebrating the genocide of the Wampanoag tribe"—as if
anyone getting together this day, with loved ones, to thank God for our
blessings ever thought the diseases that badly affected the Pilgrims’ Wampanoag
friends was a good thing. What a lie! Eric Utter references this story that calls
actual history a myth, so as to invent an actual myth that is far uglier than
what actually happened.
It’s hard to know when to respond to such nonsense and when
to ignore it. This year I’ve become aware. If such a thing gains traction, I’ll
see what I can to do shout it down (in my quiet blogger way).
In my personal celebration, I’ve been looking for things worth sharing here. I’ll just reference a few:
· “Barton: Let’s Thank the Pilgrims for Defeating Socialism This Thanksgiving” Tim Barton of Wallbuilders, November 18, 2021. He gives the history of the tragic follow-up to the 1621 Thanksgiving, when the
Pilgrims tried out a form of socialism that nearly killed them. They recovered
by returning to private property, for which we can be grateful—and from which
example we should learn as a cautionary tale.
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| 1780 Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving in Massachusetts |
· “The story behind President Nelson’s global prayer of gratitude and invitation to #GiveThanks” Church News in the Deseret
News, November 25, 2020. This includes the video referred to, which
can be seen on YouTube here, and included below. It’s about the healing power of gratitude, and could
suffice as all I’d want to say here today.
· “The Pilgrims’ Epic, TRUE Story Sounds a Lot Like Afghanistan” Tim Barton speaks with Glenn Beck, November 19, 2021, showing him an original Geneva Bible carried on the Mayflower and used by the Pilgrims. They discuss some of the history that led to the Pilgrims’ coming—and coming so late in the year—back in 1620.
Please enjoy President Nelson talking about the healing power of gratitude, and then have a Happy Thanksgiving!
