Thank Goodness It's Monday #331

PARTAKERS IN PLENTY --

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

Maybe you don’t much feel like a “partaker in plenty” as Thanksgiving approaches this year.

 Times continue to be difficult, no argument. And from many points of view, the outlook is cloudy, at best. So it wouldn’t be surprising if you felt there was less to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

But …

You could have been at Plymouth Plantation in 1620.

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth.
By Jennie A. Brownscombe (1850-1936)

Jennie Brownscombe’s popular interpretation of the First Thanksgiving has become a symbol of the holiday for many Americans. It reached a wide audience and influenced the national understanding when it was printed in Life magazine.

Thumbnail history review: Despite the pictures of colorful turkeys and stiff colonists in pristine white collars and brightly buckled shoes we recall from our early childhood, the reality is quite different.

I'd like to take this opportunity to recount a little Thanksgiving history -- a bit more than I remember learning decades ago. Then let's see if we can find an empowering lesson in it.

Thanksgiving as it was NOT taught. In August of 1620 a band of Puritans left the relative comfort of their European homeland to pursue the freedoms of life in the New World.

They set sail on two small ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell. Not long into the journey the Speedwell proved unseaworthy. Most of her passengers and crew then transferred to the Mayflower.

The intended destination was Northern Virginia.

They missed by hundreds of miles. After months of rough sailing, the 102 travelers making the voyage sighted land (Cape Cod) on November 9. After some exploration what was thought to be a suitable site was settled at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. (The port of embarkation had been Plymouth, England.)

There was nobody they knew there to greet them. There were no homes to move in to, no stores where they could buy supplies.

Ill-prepared they endured a winter of great hardship. At one point only six people were well enough to care for the sick and dying. Half the settlers died of scurvy and exposure. It’s been calculated that in that first year they made seven times more graves than huts.

The Mayflower sailed back to England in the spring of 1621.

Despite the hardships of the winter, none of the 53 remaining “pilgrims” returned with the ship.

And the following October the settlers managed (with the help and participation of the Native American neighbors – the Wampanoag -- with whom they peacefully coexisted) a "Harvest Home" celebration.

This was the precursor of the Thanksgiving we now commemorate and emulate.

Here’s a description of that first celebration. It comes from one of the only two primary sources for the events of the autumn 1621 in Plymouth; a letter colonist Edward Winslow sent to a friend in England.

It was first published in London in 1622 so the Elizabethan-era English can be a bit difficult (so I’m giving you a modernized spelling). But the message -- especially the second paragraph -- is a wonderful articulation of what we celebrate even when times are “difficult.”

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

Edward Winslow
(1595 - 1655)

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as many fowl as with a little help besides served our company almost a week. At which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians came amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King, Massaoyt, with some ninety men whom for these three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed upon our governor, and the captain and others.

"And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that, we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

TGIM Takeaway #1: Few of us will know the degree of hardship that small band of freedom seekers endured. It's difficult to even imagine what those days in 1621 were like.

Our modern lives seem easy. Our small successes pale in the light of their perseverance. In the abundance of our contemporary culture, we often forget that we have so much for which we can be thankful.

Or perhaps, because we have so much, we forget to be thankful.

TGIM Takeaway #2: The Pilgrim lessons of Thanksgiving are still relevant – maybe even more so when times are tougher. They had, in a phrase that’s probably been over popularized –

“An Attitude Of Gratitude”

• They were grateful for survival. The winter had been desperate. Many had died. Whether they could continue and support themselves in this New World was a real challenge. Yet they remained optimistic.

• They were grateful for the kindness of strangers, the original inhabitants of the land, whose generosity and wisdom, knowledge and intelligence were vital to their survival.

• They were grateful for the potential of the land that was now their home. They were grateful for the hope in their hearts.

• They were grateful for their community and the ability they had to work together to help each other to survive.

• They were grateful for the qualities of character – the willingness to work hard, courage, emotional and physical strength, resilience, persistence, ingenuity – that had helped them survive.

• They were grateful for freedom and the right to govern themselves – the search for which drove them on their dangerous and trying journey far across the sea.

Thanksgiving Day is not a religious holiday. Although in the USA we reference its Puritan origins, it is a national holiday observed on the fourth Thursday of November.

But while crowds will gather for a parade or to experience a football game in a stadium, the spirit of the day is realized as most of us gather together on a more personal scale around a harvest home table and –

Give Thanks

What are you thankful for? The Pilgrims were grateful for the many things that give life meaning and joy … the things that matter no matter what our economic or social circumstances … the things that bind us together as –

A human family. I trust -- no matter how difficult current circumstances seem -- that Thursday you will find some of the First Thanksgiving spirit. I certainly don't imagine most of you will busy yourself with e-mail. So I’ll take this TGIM opportunity to –

Thank YOU, one and all: For your generous acceptance of these TGIM e-mail/blog post messages. Thanks for sharing the ones you like with folks you think will enjoy them or benefit from them. We're pleased to make their acquaintance.

And thanks for your feedback, both critical and favorable.

I appreciate your views and the effort you make to convey them. I learn from what you have to say and hope that TGIM can continue to be a conduit for sharing that wisdom and understanding.

I hope this message finds you far from want ... that life is always plentiful for you ... and that once again on Thanksgiving Day you will use the occasion to resolve to be thankful every day of the year.

Thankfully,

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S. “Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.” Humorist, journalist, essayist, writer, and editor Edward Sandford Martin (1856 – 1939) said that.