The Patriot Post® · Giving Thanks Amidst Challenges
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American tradition, begun and built upon our tradition of Christian faith. Obviously, you don’t have to be a Christian to be thankful, but the history and legacy of the holiday is powerfully religious.
We’ll admit, when your Patriot Post editorial team collects and write stories each day, we can get rather discouraged at times. Bad policies have bad consequences. Elections don’t always turn out as we’d hope. And aside from the constant stream of malaise brought by Democrats and the Biden administration, the woke mob vilifies the Thanksgiving holiday and America herself, miseducating our kids while they’re at it.
Even the Thanksgiving meal reminds us of the bad news — the average price of this year’s food is up an astonishing 20% since last year, which in turn was 14% higher than the year before. Remember when Joe Biden was crowing about saving you 16 cents for an Independence Day cookout?
But hey, there’s always good news. If you’re a vegan who gets triggered by all that (expensive) meat and dairy at the Thanksgiving table, there’s a support hotline for you to call. Is this a great country or what?
That last line was a joke, but also not one at all. This is a great country, current challenges and bad actors notwithstanding, and we’re greatly blessed and awfully thankful to live in it.
Hudson Institute senior fellow Melanie Kirkpatrick, author of a book on Thanksgiving, echoes that optimism. “Amid all the political and cultural turmoil with which we live today, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of our country’s many blessings,” she said. “Thanksgiving Day is a good moment to reflect on the words of Benjamin Franklin, who called Thanksgiving a day of ‘public Felicity’ in which Americans give thanks, above all, for our ‘full Enjoyment of Liberty, civil and religious.’ That was 1785. Franklin’s words apply no less equally today.”
Every year on Thanksgiving, The Wall Street Journal runs the same editorial in which this thankful note continues to ring true: America is the “longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators.”
The deeper truth is that we haven’t done this for ourselves. Our Republic and our freedom are gifts from God. Remembering that is key to reviving both faith and the American Spirit inherent in the Thanksgiving holiday.
Remember the Pilgrims and the history of Thanksgiving, and teach it to your kids. Being thankful takes practice, so don’t forget to keep working at it and recalibrating to it. Reach out in love to that family member or neighbor who doesn’t think like you do. Above all, don’t forget the Creator who blessed you with life and Liberty.
We have so much to be thankful for, and here in our humble shop, one of the foremost things is you, our readers and supporters. God bless you and yours on this Thanksgiving!