Giving Thanks – It’s a National Trait

Thus far there have been no edicts to the Smithsonian regarding the history, the celebration of Thanksgiving. In 1621, it continues to be widely told, the pilgrims and neighboring indigenous Indians gathered together for a bountiful feast paying tribute to a rich harvest — the product of their mutuality, their cooperation, their joint efforts to stave off starvation. Thanksgiving for 424 years has stood as a national holiday of gratitude and community.

George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving to be celebrated on November 26, 1799. Subsequent presidents issued similar proclamations while designating alternative dates. On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November thus commencing our current Thanksgiving holiday. Yet some toying with dates interceded –as in 1939, Franklin Roosevelt shifted Thanksgiving to the second Thursday of November, 16 states for two years refused to make the change. In 1941, Congress passed a resolution making Thanksgiving, from then onward, the fourth Thursday of November.

Annual, long lasting and not without some contention, Thanksgiving along with the Fourth of July units our nation in celebration, festive gatherings, great food, fond family and friends, and abundant goodwill.

Numerous other nations celebrate a thanksgiving holiday or harvest feast – across the globe- but the US and its northern neighbor – Canada- are of the few where Thanksgiving Day is an official holiday – for gratitude and community. Canada’s holiday dates from 1879, is celebrated on the second Monday of October and it is rumored that turkey was initially served at Thanksgiving in Canada.

It pleases me that two of our US’s national holidays are days that informally convene people in family/friend gatherings, are hearty, have traditional foods (I am for turkey and cranberry sauce over hot dogs and burgers), and are of a non-religious nature – are national holidays, fully inclusive.

One doesn’t need to be of the Mayflower, or worship in a particular manner to be fully immersed in this holiday that for a day each year gives thanks, offers gratitude for blessings, acknowledges the power of collaboration, of being helpful to and with others.

For me particularly, 2025 is year of gratitude, thankfulness as I spent a month in hospital while a complex heart issue was ever so slowly diagnosed for treatment – a death defying experience. Daily I would awaken in hospital to a plethora of persons: professionals, aids, service folk who tended my needs, cared for me, kept me alive. Seemingly there were hundreds of these generous, thoughtful health care providers focused on my health and comfort. Not all were entertaining, not each charming but all were seriously in attendance. I am grateful, appreciative of those who serve, for those who serve not with resentment but with pride and dedication. It is important to have these images of fellow citizens in this nation when what is too often displayed is cruelty and what is spoken can be despicable.

My experience is the American experience. Persons of all bents, colors and affluence offer helping hands daily, particularly in emergencies. Media blitz keeps us apprised of the rescues, self-endangering acts of people who happened-to-be-on-the-scene.

These heroes aren’t scripted, aren’t trained, aren’t interested in fame. These are everyday Americans living in a nation where lending a helping hand is a national trait, a norm, a value. These are folks who don’t need to be told to act, aren’t threatened into helping – they are there, there is a crisis, they act.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Be of good cheer, be pleased to be part of your Thanksgiving gathering, be appreciative of living in a nation where it is the norm to be present and helpful, where cruelty, hatred and ridicule are not the norm but startling still.

Kathy Herald-Marlowe lives in Sharon.