Much to be thankful for

Today is the day most of us stop to consider that for which we are thankful. We tick off similar blessings: family, friends and an abundance that meets our needs, whether we consider that from a benevolent Heavenly Father or our own toil, or both. Today, of all days, we try to remember more than those most obvious of blessings and consider our many blessings as Americans.

The origins of Thanksgiving go back to the fall of 1621, when the Pilgrims gathered a bountiful harvest and assembled for a feast with the friendly Natives who had helped them. It was a stark contrast to what had happened in Jamestown the winter of 1609-10, when those early settlers had resorted to cannibalism to survive, according to Captain John Smith’s “The Generall Historie of Virginia.”

The Pilgrims weren’t happy to have the 17th century equivalent of a pumpkin pie and a big-screen TV, they were truly thankful for having survived against the odds.

For what are we truly thankful beyond hearth and home?

Here at the Frontiersman, we are thankful we live in a democratic society, protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are thankful these mean something here, unlike what is happening in nations like Pakistan. Our freedoms of speech, press and assembly cannot be denied because of political winds. We can print words and cartoons that may not please our federal, state or local politicians, and you can read, view and respond to those comments — all without fear of having police knocking at our doors to suppress us. We are thankful for our First Amendment Rights.

We are thankful we live in a nation protected by the best military in the world. We are thankful that men and women voluntarily serve in our nation’s defense, and we thank them for that willingness to be our shield, no matter who the foe or what the cost.

We are thankful to live in the most beautiful state and in, arguably, the most beautiful area of the most beautiful state, and among people who appreciate its splendor.

We are thankful for our neighbors — whomever they may be. They are those who answer the call of a siren or who bring out jumper cables or a tow rope when someone needs a hand. They are the volunteers who teach our children to dribble a basketball, collect donations for the needy, pick up litter along the highways and do scores of other tasks that could not be accomplished through tax dollars alone.

And we are thankful for our readers. Today we exhort you with the words of President Abraham Lincoln, who proclaimed in 1863 the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving (later changed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 to the fourth Thursday). Lincoln listed the nation’s many blessings from the Heavens and asked a nation in unity to give thanks for those blessings.

“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,” Lincoln wrote. A happy and blessed Thanksgiving from our homes to yours.