By Henry J. Stern

We want to wish our readers a Happy Thanksgiving, and make a few observations about the holiday.  Most of you have left your offices by now, and we expect you to see this tomorrow at home or Friday or Monday morning at work.  The delay will not vitiate the message, perhaps it will be more closely read if not surrounded by holiday greetings.
 
Historically, Thanksgiving is a day to express gratitude for the blessings we receive from God, a figure who, despite activists' objections, remains in the Declaration of Independence, although not in the Constitution.  For ourselves, on a related theological topic, we would keep "intelligent design" out of the classroom; as a public school is not a madras.  On the other hand, we see absolutely no harm in references on coins to the Almighty, wherever he or she may be.
 
If our forefathers were encouraged to rise against Great Britain because of their religious beliefs (the reason many of them came to America in the first place), then belief in God played an important role in the growth of our democratic institutions. We should respect those beliefs.
 
Sadly, today, an historic religion has been twisted by some adherents into violent hostility towards nonbelievers.  Totalitarian states, posing as theocracies, threaten war and mass destruction.  They are not true theocracies, because if God ruled, he/she would probably be much more benevolent than the monsters who would destroy His creation in His name.  Nonetheless, the major mass murderers of our century; Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, were primarily secular figures.
 
The Thanksgiving holiday suggests several of our park rules: 26-G: Every day we live is a gift of God.  19: Be kind to man and beast. And 8-F: Do not bite the hand that feeds you.  Unfortunately, too many of us obsess over what we lack, whether in possessions or in tranquility.  We are insufficiently grateful for the blessings we enjoy, particularly the freedom and plenty we take for granted in America.
 
Many cultures have festivals celebrating the harvest.  In Canada, Thanksgiving is observed on the second Monday in October.  In America, Thanksgiving is essentially a family holiday.   It is one day of the year when people are anxious to be with others they like.  It is a day for people to invite guests, and to be invited by hosts.
 
We wish you all the happiest of holidays, and long life and health to you, your families and friends.  In the holiday spirit, we extend the same good wishes to everyone else.  We wish that people we do not know have the same good will toward us that we have toward them.

Happy Thanksgiving.

#265 11.23.05  455wds