Thanksgiving Thoughts

Did you know that George Washington, the first president and father of our country established the Thanksgiving holiday? I didn't until I happened to hear a rerun program of one of my favorite thinkers and talk show hosts, Dennis Prager. Yes, he is a conservative. But he also posits clarity in the service of truth as his mission. Clarity does not mean that "we agree." Some things are whether you and I agree. And, I guess, here's one such opportunity for us to disagree. I am not trying to convince anyone. Only evidence can convince, and frankly, I am not sure, as this society is wending its way toward self-destruction, even evidence is enough. You read. You decide as you will, or as an agenda may require. I imagine a bumper sticker. "George W. was a right winger!" Who are we talking about? I digress.

Thanksgiving isn't just a day or two off and an opportunity to gorge on tryptophan laden turkey topped off by a nap and further gorging on popcorn and beer while football teams run and tackle. The proclamation that established the holiday exhorts the people of the United States, now terrified of any mention of religion or tradition, to give prayerful thanks to-----gulp, God.

Historical reality.

This does not mean that those who do not believe in God have no place in this society. Au contraire. Because of a belief of a founding people in a Divine Will that helped bring about this still young country, which we take for granted, those who prefer to be agnostic, or unbelieving, or of a philosphy or faith which does not include God, share the table of thanks, without restriction. Separation of Church and State means not that the essence of this country's founding, a Judeo-Christian building block, and the God of Abraham, be abolished and unmentioned in some revisionist compulsion, but that there be no established religion that by its nature forbids the freedom of belief of others. The belief in God of these progenitors made possible the pluralistic society under the banner "In God We Trust". The benefit is everyone's alike. It would be lovely if that protective banner of In God We Trust be used as something to celebrate still rather than something to be chiselled off the Halls of the Senate and Congress.