Today is, of course, Thanksgiving Day, a day to reflect on the year and what we have to be thankful for.
Near my computer in the front room I have a framed set of the Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell – Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship. These paintings are iconic, but slowly reveal more details when one examines them closely.
In Freedom from Fear, two parents are tucking their children into bed, while the father holds a newspaper bearing the bold headline “Bombings… Horror Hit….” Published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943, at the height of WWII, the meaning was far more impactful than had the painting been made even 10 years earlier. Looking at the print now, with word of a planned increase in the number of troops serving in Afghanistan, it’s as meaningful now as it was 66 years ago.
Freedom from Want features a huge turkey being served by a grandmother to her family gathered all around. During these difficult economic times, there are many who cannot have the large turkey, or afford to travel to grandma’s house, but when we consider this print against the financial status found in parts of the rest of the world, where houses can be the size of an American child’s bedroom, we are wealthy beyond imagination.
Freedom of Speech looks a lot like the town hall meetings from this past summer. An average man stands in the center, speaking while others in attendance look up at him. There’s a nobility in his stance, something that was lacking in some of this year’s meetings, but the sense that he feels he can affect change is evident in the print.
Freedom of Worship has people of all nationalities and genders, one holding a Bible, one counting her rosary, but all of them focused in the same direction. Our nation was founded by people of faith seeking a place to worship free from imposition by the crown. Before the current Supreme Court are cases that could restrict the freedom we cherish to worship and to honor our dead with crosses at memorials. Depending on how they render their decisions, it could even lead to the removal of crosses and Stars of David from the gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. While we take time to reflect and give thanks, it would be appropriate to pause for a moment and realize how fleeting these freedoms can be if we squander the gifts we have been given. May you and yours have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!
Comments