Our harvest celebration is Thanksgiving. Even though we now have access to food all year long, we gather together on this day and have a feast. Our traditions include retelling the myth of the first Thanksgiving and having some of the foods we think they ate that day like turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin. Often the real history of our country's early years is white-washed. We pale-faces enjoy our myths.
The first immigrants left the old world to have freedom and a fresh start. The Indians taught the Pilgrims ways to live off the land, but the newcomers treated the indigenous people very badly and continued to do so for many generations.
The new world allowed freedom of religion, and today many people add religious meaning to this feast day, thanking and praising God from whom all blessing flow. We should share our abundance so that no one goes hungry on this day or any other day. Inequality of income enables some people to have more to be thankful for than others. You may believe that God will provide, but we must help provide for each other.
We should remember that all of us were immigrants a few generations ago, and many other people of the world want that status now. Praise our country who can offer freedom and sustenance to all. Please support and vote for government representatives who will do something positive about immigration reform and income inequality.
No comments:
Post a Comment