By Terri Pickard
For almost 225 years Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday. The days and dates have changed over the years, but once a year, since 1789 we have taken a day to publicly celebrate our freedom and our country. We have taken time to truly be thankful for what our freedom means. It is a time to reflect on how hard we, as a country, have worked to gain and keep our freedom.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It was the one day a year that our family and friends would get together and enjoy being with each other without all the drama, hype, or expense associated with other holidays. For me it wasn’t just about getting a few days off school, or getting all the food I could possibly eat. It was about learning about my family history. Each year we would hear stories about where our family homesteaded, and the wagon train that they took to get there.
Family heirlooms were brought out and we all got to look at the wooden shoes my Great Grandfather made for my Great Grandmother, and the family bible my great grandmother hid in a pocket in her petticoat when they boarded the boat to come to America. It was impressed on us as to how dangerous that was, as it was when Hitler was taking over Denmark. Had they been found with the bible, the entire family would have been beheaded on the spot.
Sadly it appears to me that Thanksgiving is disappearing, and with it our sense of pride in where we came from. Many American’s today deem Thanksgiving day as a day to prepare for “Black Friday”. I went to look for Thanksgiving decorations at our local Wal-Mart and found one tiny isle with “fall” decorations and couldn’t find one thing that actually said “Thanksgiving”. Halloween was edged out and Christmas has overwhelmed our stores.
Families have lost sight of helping our children to learn the stories of our heritage. Everyone has a history whether it is escaping slavery, or escaping the holocaust, or trying to save the land left by our ancestors. I fear that with the loss of our Thanksgiving Holiday, will lose our ability to give thanks, we will also lose our appreciation for our country and our ancestors struggles to make America a wonderful place to live.
So I ask you this Thanksgiving, take time to look at what you have to be thankful for. Even though we may not have everything we want, we still need to look at what we do have. We may not get to go home for Thanksgiving, but we have a place to live. We have a school that offers a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner every year. We have friends and teachers and students that care about us, and community members that work to make our stay here a happy and comfortable one. Please take time to look around and I’m sure you will find at least one thing to be thankful for this holiday season.