I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been one to celebrate the first Thanksgiving. You might remember, the Pilgrims invited the Native Americans, who had helped them survive, to a meal. That was before infecting them with syphilis, smallpox, measles, mumps, and bubonic plague. Not to mention, it was a few years before forcing them from their homes, and taking their land.
No for me, and I am sure most 21st century Americans, it’s an excuse to eat too much, visit with family, and watch football, then pass out from eating too much (not necessarily in that order). My first Thanksgiving memories were of Mimi (mom), cooking for days, way too much food, for the three of us. If the Bears were playing, dad and I managed to squeeze all of our thankfulness and eating into about a fifteen-minute period. We watched, while mom grumbled her thanks, while doing dishes, and stuffing the refrigerator. God, we were soooo spoiled. To a great extent, we still are.
Just a few things to think of/be grateful for, while we enjoy our birds: roughly 25,000 people die each day from lack of nutrition (9.1 mil. /yr.), 80% of humanity live on < $10/day, billions of people lack adequate clean water and basic sanitation. During the game you might want to think of the 1.6 billion living without any electricity. I’m not going to get into issues like healthcare, safety, security, and especially freedoms which we, for the most part, take for granted.
Depressing, right. Well, that wasn’t my goal. I just wanted to make certain that no one reading this blog, could get through another Thanksgiving, feeling they don’t have enough for which to be thankful.
I pray that God continue to bless all of us, and help us to be a blessing to others. Have a great Thanksgiving.
