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Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thanksgiving 2020

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Image from MIT Medical

What a contrast to the above is the below often-used image of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth Colony!
Should we then feel sorry for ourselves: that this Thanksgiving 2020 we may have to forego some of the usual family gatherings and festivities?  I think not!

In spite of my own doubts as to just how dangerous COVID-19 is, I think that we should reflect upon how un-deprived we are, here in the 21st Century! 

Let us note the true hardships which our Pilgrim Fathers endured: a rough voyage of 65 days on turbulent seas only to arrive in November 1620 to inhospitable shores during brutal weather; a lack of enough supplies until the next gardening season because the Mayflower was supposed to arrive to the already-established Virginia Colony, where there would have been stores enough for the winter and good shelter; the deaths of more than half of the English settlers aboard the ship, because of the combination of both poor nutrition and inadequate shelter for a New England Winter. 

Yet, our Pilgrim Fathers heartily gave thanks — and, before disembarking, even managed to compose the Mayflower Compact, ancestor of our United States Constitution:
...[I]n the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims wisely chose to establish a government based on civil agreement, not on compulsory divine or biblical authority....
Therefore, instead of whining about what we are not doing this Thanksgiving 2020 and instead of complaining about our draconian Democrat governors and their anti-Thanksgiving edicts, let us be mindful of what Scott Powell wrote in his Patriot Post 2018 essay Thanksgiving: The First and Essential American Holiday
Times are very different than they were nearly 400 years ago at the time of the Mayflower’s voyage to the New World. But the qualities of character that made the Pilgrims exemplary are as relevant today as they were back then. A contemporary Thanksgiving makeover might include: rekindling a quest for adventure; growing the faith to hold on to a vision of a promised land no matter what; mustering the courage to go against the crowd and defend the truth; gaining determination to endure hardship; rejuvenating a joyful willingness to sacrifice for others; revitalizing respect and tolerance of people of different beliefs; and renewing the predisposition to extend love and gratitude at every appropriate opportunity.
Please read Scott Powell's entire essay HERE.  Worth your time.

Let us count our blessings!  They are too numerous to count!

There will be time enough later to take our draconian, anti-Thanksgiving political leaders to task.  For now...



17 comments:

  1. Best wishes for a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well said. I wish more Americans would reflect on their pampered, entitled lives before whining about whatever gives them the sadz on any given day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hardships? Hardly. They took them on voluntarily. They left their safe and comfortable homes and walked into those "hardships" in search of what this generation has casually thrown away in the name of "safety." They had no thought that "keeping safe" mattered at all in the search for the ability to be free persons - to speak and assemble in a manner dictated only by their own beliefs and preferences.

    Today's generation sneers at "free speech" in the name of being kept "safe from hate speech" and from having to hear anything with which they disagree.

    There is a time to take to thas those who would deny us our freedoms, and that time is now. Every single day. Every hour of every day. We cannot rest even for a minute because, believe me, they do not rest in their pursuit of power.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Take note: even today, an national holiday, THEY ARE TELLING US NOT TO ASSEMBLE.

      Delete
    2. Jayhawk,
      Hardships? Hardly. They took them on voluntarily.

      And for the reasons you mention.

      Take note: even today, an national holiday, THEY ARE TELLING US NOT TO ASSEMBLE.

      And the sheeple agree -- "because of THE COVID."

      Boiling the frog!

      Delete
  4. Happy Thanksgiving - left and right.

    It's a good time to remember the parable of the loaves and fishes. There's enough so that no one need go without.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr. AOW and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of my homeschool group's moms, present and former: beef sirloin roast, Haiga rice, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.

    Today, our dog Callie, in addition to yesterday's table treats, gets a walk from a professional dog walker. It takes a pro to handle this bundle of energy (part hound and part Labrador Retriever).

    ReplyDelete
  6. My wife and I went to our niece's home for Thanksgiving. Her family is a lovely and delightful bunch and we had a wonderful time, despite that they have fallen deeper into the pit of Covid fear since we were last there.

    They kept ranting disparagingly of people they knew who were careless about the covid, not wearing masks, going to poker club and to parties, etc. They somehow missd the point that all these people have been "misbehaving" for nine months and none of them have become sick.

    I refrained from pointing that out for the sake of family harmony.

    Hospitals point out that some 80%(+) of people checking in with Covid report that they "wear masks all of the time."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Masks are more effective at containing infection than they are at protecting the wearer. The popular analogy is pants: wearing pants offers only marginal protection to the wearer from being weed on, on the other hand anyone nearby an incontinant pants-wearer should be profoundly grateful that (s)he is wearing pants.

      Delete
  7. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

    Scott

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Scott.

      I'm glad that I found your new blog site. I shall try to stop in often.

      Delete

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