T
thunderfoot
Deleted Due to Inactivity
Former MSFC Member
Today as I write this is Thanksgiving in the States. This is the traditional kick off of the holiday season here. Or, as Robert D. Raiford puts it, "The first day of National Goof Off Month." Most everyone sees this day as a chance to gather family up from the four corners of the wind and sit down to an enormous meal where we get to gorge ourselves on foods which we have not eaten since childhood or tradition dictates we should eat on this day. Later we all gather round the television and watch football. The only game being played I know about is the Green Bay Packers vs. the Detroit Lions. Neither team is doing well this year and neither is a team we follow so my family will probably skip this part.
But what does this day really represent? It has kind of been turned into a day celebrating excess, hasn't it?
The Puritans left England because of discrimination and persecution inflicted upon them due to their religious beliefs. They thought the New World would be a place where they could live and worship as they chose in peace. That first year had a terrible price. They lost a great many people and their colony was in constant danger of collapse almost from the minute they stepped off the Mayflower. If others had not helped them adapt to their new home, they all surely would have perished. The original Thanksgiving was intended to celebrate the success of their survival and the firmness of the friendship they had formed with Squanto and his people. To give thanks for all the good things they had.
And this is the idea which sticks in my head around this time of year. This day should be about celebrating all we have to be thankful for. 2009 has been a pretty hard year for me and mine. Most of it has been bleak, dreary, and had very little good news. Yet I do have things to be thankful for. I do have things which I can celebrate. I do have things which even in darker moments give me hope and belief all things in my life can and must improve in quality and outlook.
One of those things is all of you here at MSFC. Doesn't seem like much, does it? Well, it is far bigger than many of you may think. I have been welcomed here with open arms and without reservations. I have been treated respectfully and with dignity. Even when I may not have deserved such treatment. These are rare things indeed these days on the InterWebs. Or pretty much anywhere in the 21st Century it seems. So later on today, as I sit down with my family to stuff myself with roast turkey and all the trimmings, I will remind myself to be thankful for all of you. I would like to ask all of you to celebrate being thankful for each other, please. So you see, Thanksgiving does not have to be just a Yank holiday after all, does it?
But what does this day really represent? It has kind of been turned into a day celebrating excess, hasn't it?
The Puritans left England because of discrimination and persecution inflicted upon them due to their religious beliefs. They thought the New World would be a place where they could live and worship as they chose in peace. That first year had a terrible price. They lost a great many people and their colony was in constant danger of collapse almost from the minute they stepped off the Mayflower. If others had not helped them adapt to their new home, they all surely would have perished. The original Thanksgiving was intended to celebrate the success of their survival and the firmness of the friendship they had formed with Squanto and his people. To give thanks for all the good things they had.
And this is the idea which sticks in my head around this time of year. This day should be about celebrating all we have to be thankful for. 2009 has been a pretty hard year for me and mine. Most of it has been bleak, dreary, and had very little good news. Yet I do have things to be thankful for. I do have things which I can celebrate. I do have things which even in darker moments give me hope and belief all things in my life can and must improve in quality and outlook.
One of those things is all of you here at MSFC. Doesn't seem like much, does it? Well, it is far bigger than many of you may think. I have been welcomed here with open arms and without reservations. I have been treated respectfully and with dignity. Even when I may not have deserved such treatment. These are rare things indeed these days on the InterWebs. Or pretty much anywhere in the 21st Century it seems. So later on today, as I sit down with my family to stuff myself with roast turkey and all the trimmings, I will remind myself to be thankful for all of you. I would like to ask all of you to celebrate being thankful for each other, please. So you see, Thanksgiving does not have to be just a Yank holiday after all, does it?
