Once many years ago, Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts after enduring a terrible voyage that lasted months and killing many of their friends and family. Even when they landed their troubles were far from over. They stared at miles of unfamiliar land inhabited by unfamiliar people, the winter months rolling into the horizon, and barely any food to sustain them. They had little choice but to build shelter from the cold, harvest what little they cold, and tend after their weak. More than half of the original settlers died in those first few months. It was only by the kindness of neighbors and some unknown hidden strength did the foundations of America endure.
Flash forward four centuries. We have endured and continue to endure global pandemic, the likes of which we have never seen in modern history. We’ve seen political machinations and webs that draw sustenance on pitting American against American, and now we stare at the future with less certainty than ever before.
If there’s anything to learn from Thanksgiving, it’s this: learn to love one another, depend on each other. The Pilgrims and the Native Americans believed in different Gods, different political agendas, even different environmental goals. It didn’t stop the Native Americans to reach out to the strangers with a love that is too foreign in our eyes. Show true thankfulness to your neighbors by helping them in their time of need. Happy Thanksgiving
