Thanksgivin
When we gather together with our families or friends to celebrate
Thanksgiving, it will be entirely different from the first Thanksgiving cele
brated more than 300 years ago.
The origin of this typically American holiday is attributed to Governor
Bradford of the Plymouth Colony who proclaimed the first Thanksgiving
in 1621. Imagine, if you will, a small band of pilgrims landing on the bleak
shores of Massachusetts on December 21, 1620. Picture in your mind the
hardships of the winter, hostile attacks by certain tribes of unfriendly In
dians and the sowing of seed in the spring. It is little wonder that when the
crop was cut in the fall of that year and found to be more than abundant
that a Thanksgiving festival lasting a full week was proclaimed.
Everyone in America should be thankful for our country, our churches,
our schools, our freedoms, and for the many other things which we as a
nation enjoy. Since Thanksgiving is celebrated on a nationwide basis, how
ever, it is sometimes easy to overlook the small things in life. Those of us
who are fortunate enough to live here in this beautiful mountain com
munity certainly have many personal things for which we should be thank
ful. All of us can give thanks for our health, our families and our friends.
We can be thankful^ too, that in our community we live in peace and fel
lowship with each other and in a spirit of mutual understanding, which is
lacking in many other places. We can also be thankful that we have a good
place to work and adequate places to play.
It only takes a minute to stop and analyze the many little things for
which each of us can be thankful. Indeed, if all of us will do this on
Thanksgiving Day, most of us will realize how fortunate we actually are.