Blue Star Chronicles

I was reading some Thanksgiving posts earlier and was a little taken aback at the vile words written by some about Thanksgiving. It seems that some people view it as a ‘racist’ holiday! It seems that anything that is traditionally American is ‘racist’ anymore. That’s really very sad to me. I have a hard time understanding the need some people have to destroy every tradition in our culture and to rewrite history in order to make Americans of European descent out to be the bad guys in every single incident that ever happened in history.

It makes me mad that even our holidays have become rallying cries for controversy instead of celebrations of our heritage.

Of course, the pretend controversy has to do with the allegations that Thanksgiving is about the Pilgrims killing and destroying the culture of the American Natives. That is NOT what Thanksgiving is about. The Pilgrims had a good relationship with the Natives, for the most part and whatever parts weren’t good came from both sides. Major conflicts with the Natives didn’t start until much later in history.

In fact, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated with the Pilgrims and the American Natives TOGETHER. The Natives saved those first Pilgrims. Literally. They taught the Pilgrims how to use fish as fertilizer and how to plant corn in the hills. For this, they gave thanks WITH the Natives for God blessing them all with the bounty of this rich and fertile land. They gave thanks for the Natives who taught them how to work the land and shared the fruits of their labors in a feast together. After almost starving to death because of their lack of knowledge on how to work this land, they gave thanks for the realization that they would survive after all.

At the first Thanksgiving there were 50 remaining Pilgrims and something like 90 Wampanoag men. It was a joint Thanksgiving. It was a period of celebration that the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag enjoyed TOGETHER.

If you want to blame European-Americans, or Anglo-Americans or whatever we would be hyphenated as, for everything that has ever happened bad in your life then at least take the trouble to read a little history and try to grasp the complexities of the events in the context of the times in which these people lived.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who write those kinds of diatribes want all of us who had ancestors who came over on the Mayflower to just pack up our bags and move back to Europe. What then? My people came over here in the 1600s for the most part. I am an American. Rage against America all you want. It won’t change history and it won’t make you a happy person.

Thanksgiving is a celebration of and a period of gratitude for our mutual interests, our mutual dependence and our mutual blessings. Thanksgiving is about a part of history we did well. Its about a time when we worked together and survived together and celebrated life together. We are a diverse melting pot that has worked and is continuing to work. THAT is something worthy of Thanksgiving.

Okay - that said. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to ALL Americans regardless of how you might want to hyphenate your Americanism. As for me, I’m just an American. Period. Eat till you are stuffed like the turkey on your table and be thankful for the bounty our land affords us. Be grateful for all the blessings that we, as Americans of all backgrounds and ethnic heritages, have been granted.

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