Thanksgiving is a perfect prelude to the season of light. It humbles us, and it reminds us of our interconnectedness, without which we would be utterly helpless in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
Most of us feel an immense sense of gratitude to, well, depending on one's lineage, to God or Allah ("of the book" Abrahamic religion adherents), Providence (deists -like most of our founding fathers) or the Great Spirit (Native Americans, the first inhabitants), for the good fortune bestowed upon this great land.
Beyond this collective feeling of gratitude, Thanksgiving arouses appreciation for our many individual blessings. Health, wealth, family, friends and freedom come quickly to mind. Others are subtler, like the "approved" credit message at the checkout terminal, or a stranger's smile.I am also reminded of how lucky I am for the happenstance of my birth -- of the good parents I did not choose, but had; of the charmed spot on earth that I likewise did not choose, but was born into.
Others have not been nearly so lucky.Imagine, for instance, the Wampanoag Indians at Plymouth in 1620. Were it not for their help, the newly arrived Pilgrams might not have survived. That fall, they celebrated for three days in what we now call the First Thanksgiving, with the Wampanoag, led by Squanto, Samoset and Massasoit, providing most of the food. Over the next few years, more and more English came, and as their numbers grew they did not need the Indians' help anymore.
The Puritans sought to impose their beliefs on the Native Americans, conflicts ensued and 50 years later the sons of those who once supped together were now fighting each other. The Wampanoags were all but wiped out. In 1970, at a ceremony marking the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrams' arrival, one of the remaining Wampanoag ancestors spoke:
"Today is a time of celebrating for you -- a time of looking back to the first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my people. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white people. Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wampanoags, still walk the lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed. But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important."
His story -- ooh "history" (so when will we have herstory?) -- reminds me of one more thing for which to be thankful: the indomitable human spirit that from error seeks truth, and from trial finds treasure.
Richard F. Dawahare 11/23/07
