Thanksgiving, declared a holiday by President Abraham Lincoln, became a national holiday during a time when our country was divided by war, and suffering from some its most challenging times. Indigenous people’s lands and rights were steadily being stripped from them. Land grants in the western territories were robbing Native American people of their lands and claims to tribal homes and fishing rights, and traditional lives and families. The nation was divided by the Civil War. As we observe Thanksgiving, 2011, we too live during difficult times.
Today in San Francisco and the many cities and towns in the Bay area, the streets are just a little quieter than usual. People are gathering together for meals and celebrations. A long weekend is ahead, and many of us need some rest. Our children and grandchildren are creating some of their first memories, and as grandparents and parents, we need to remind ourselves what this holiday has become to us, and what it was intended to be.
In September of 1863, during some of the darkest hours in our country's history, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote President Lincoln (as she had his predecessors for over 15 years prior) to ask him to declare a national day of unity and thanksgiving. It is believed that Secretary of State, William Seward wrote the proclamation, which President Lincoln endorsed, declaring a day in November as “A day of thanksgiving and praise.” We live in a similar time of conflict, division, and a far too violent world. We may want to consider how the words of President Lincoln continue to speak to us of our own times.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed."
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
While there are many injustices, sorrows, shining moments, courageous and valient events and memories of the past that we can look back on, there are so many reasons today to look into our collective mirror and find more reasons to observe Thanksgiving. I can think of nothing we need more, at this time, than a universal day of observing our gratitude for those who have sacrificed, for those who have suffered, for those who have worked hard to make our lives better, for those who have put their hearts, souls, and talents into creating life rather than destroying it, and for those who wake up every day with a chance to do something good for all humanity.
Who would that be? It would be you, and me, and everyone who is still breathing. Those of us who are alive, regardless of our circumstances, have the right, the obligations, and the gift of life that allows us to act in ways that benefit one another. As you sit down today with your family and friends, or as you spend the day alone with your own thoughts, reflect on what it is you could do that would make our world more peaceful? Give praise to those who do good works. Be grateful for the possibility to heal some wounds, mend some fences, refrain from violence and honor the sanctity of all life because you are still alive to do it.
This year Thanksgiving falls on my cousin Jennifer’s birthday and the anniversary of my Mother’s death. It is a day, like many days, of joy and sorrow. In the words of the Old Testament prophet, we have a choice today to choose life or choose death. I choose life. I also choose to do what my Mother often reminded me, “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.” In honor of my Mother and all those sorrows we carry with us, I dedicate this article and this day. As
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