How Do You Write About Thanksgiving?

Here is it again,

another Thanksgiving;

a day set aside for

celebrating what unifies family,

friends, co-workers,

and the occasional stranger.

Yet, how does one write

about this Holiday?

In this era of cultural sensitivity

and being “woke”, (a despicable term)

 can we still celebrate this day without the

shadow of guilt creeping in?

Abraham Lincoln created Thanksgiving

in an effort to unify a divided nation

during the Civil War and remind the

citizens of this nation that we are still

one from many.

Lincoln’s intention was as that of a healer,

while ignoring the ineffaceable scars

of tragedy the early settlers endured and

imposed on each other and the Natives

upon which we built our country.

It’s a holiday designed to help us remember

that though great strife, suffering and difficulty,

we have remained united and that there is

no event, no instance so terrible as to wipe

this Democracy from the face of the world.

It is a day to be thankful to the forbearers

of the greatest of all ideals, that we, that all people,

can and should be forever free and any yoke of

oppression can be overcome through standing

together.  

I guess that is the best way to celebrate this holiday,

with a reverence for what came before and knowledge

of the trials yet to come, and in that knowing reverence,

be thankful we are here, together.