GIVING THANKS ON THANKSGIVING

By George Denise

We have just celebrated one of America's most important holidays, Thanksgiving. It is a traditional time when members of the family gather together to enjoy one another's company and to share a meal based on that original Thanksgiving dinner enjoyed by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock following their first harvest in 1621.

Most of us know the Thanksgiving story. The Pilgrims had sailed from England to America to escape religious persecution, seeking freedom to worship God in their own way. By the time they arrived in America and had survived their first winter, over half of them had died. Those that survived were grateful just to be alive, to have survived the ocean crossing, and that first winter, and that they were now harvesting their first plantings. It is interesting that we have chosen the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving as the day we celebrate, as opposed to some other. Theirs was not the first settlement in America, nor even the first that survived. That would be St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded in 1579 by the Spanish. It was not even the first northern European or English settlement. That would be Jamestown, founded in 1607. Both of those early settlements suffered equal or worse hardships. Over half of the settlers to Jamestown died on the ocean crossing alone. Of those that survived the crossing, only have of them survived the first winter. Of those survivors, two years later almost two-thirds of them were massacred by Indians. What was unique about Plymouth is that it was the first religious colony in America.

Americans have come to this country for many reasons, most having to do with freedom, whether it be freedom to earn a living, freedom from political or racial persecution, freedom to own land, as well as for religious freedom. That we have chosen to identify so strongly as a nation and as a people with the Pilgrims and their quest for religious freedom says something about us as a people.

I heard some interesting statistics on the news a couple of days ago. 86% of Americans believe in God, a higher percentage of the population than in almost any other country in the world. 80% of Americans say grace regularly at meals. Even I was surprised it was that high. I think it is particularly interesting that in a secular nation, where people are free to worship (or not worship) as they choose, a higher percentage of the population do so than in most other countries in the world. That may or may not make us better than other people, but at the very least, it shows how much we care. That is shown in many other ways too. For example, Americans give more to charity, both within our own country and to people in other countries than any other nation in the world. That is one more thing we can all be thankful for; that we are such a caring people.

Thank you for listening, and God be with you.