In my history book in the fourth or fifth grade there was a painting of a group of Pilgrims and Indians gathered around a table. As I recall the story that accompanied it, the Indians had brought food to the Pilgrims, helped them get through the winter, and together they celebrated the harvest at the first Thanksgiving dinner, which was either in 1621 or 1623.

In appreciation, the Pilgrims took the Indians’ land.

I think that this may have been at the root of my deep cynical streak. I couldn’t help but wonder if we haven’t always celebrated Thanksgiving wrong. George Washington, when he proclaimed the holiday in 1789 declared the it was to be a as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.” Didn’t say a word about turkey.

And that’s the way I remember it for these many years. My mother was an excellent cook, and Thanksgiving dinner was always had good food. My wife is an excellent cook and laid out many a wonderful Thanksgiving table.

And since the invention of television and the NFL there was always a football game or two to digest to.

But we’ve gotten a long way from “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.” Probably a long way from gratefulness, too.

I can imagine what Thanksgiving dinner is going to be like in a lot of homes this year.

“Please pass the giblet gravy.”

“Make America Great!”

“What? By a lying, misogynist. Look what you and your kind have gotten us in to.”

“Here’s the gravy. Catch!”

Maybe we should, as I’m trying to do here, take several giant steps away from the current climate and get back to basics. With the Pilgrims, having something to be thankful for was easy. They had made it through another hard winter. Although a lot of them had died, not all of them had. 

Washington, when he declared the first official ThanksgivingDay in 1789, was probably both surprised and grateful that the young country had made it that far. They had overcome a war, great dissension regarding exactly what kind of country the USA would be, and a Constitutional Convention that went in to patch the Articles of Confederation and came out with a whole new Constitution. That was an accomplishment, probably beyond everybody's expectations.

Simarly, because most of us have received more than we either expected or deserved, I believe that it’s as easy for us to find things to be thankful for, both individually and collectively.

Collectively, we can be grateful that our country has been strong enough to overcome the fact that we sometimes make very poor decisions. We’re the oldest country in the world under original management, despite spates of genocide, James Buchanan, Slavery, Millard Fillmore, depressions, recessions, and disagreements that rent the body politic right down the middle. Like Washington, we should be both surprised and thankful that we’re still here and still have a future.

I can’t speak for other individuals, but I can for myself. I’m grateful that at a time in my life where I have a lot more past than future, I can take pride in what will follow behind me. My children, my children-in-law, and my grandchildren. If my purpose, like any good camper, was to leave the place a little better than I found it, I think I’ve succeeded.

I’m thankful for a wife who actually believed the “for richer or poorer, in illness and in health, for better or for worse” vows we made and acted on them. We’ve managed to do all of those things.

And I’m thankful that I can go to lunch with my conservative friends, argue at a level that causes the waitresses to eye the telephone and try to remember number for 911, then exchange a hug as we leave.

Linda reminded me of the great Norman Rockwell Post cover of the family gathered around the table, a harmonious family about to celebrate yet another Thanksgiving. I’ve experienced a lot of those Thanksgivings, and they make great memories, even the year we did Cornish Game Hens instead of turkey. But, at least for a little while, I think we should go back to Washington’s original purpose:a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.

Happy Thanksgiving.