Happy Thanksgiving
The First Thanksgiving 1621 by Karen Rinaldo
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.
Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 1622, Part VI
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Thank God for America Nov 21st 2007 9:10AM by Dinesh D’Souza As an immigrant who has chosen to become a U.S. citizen, I feel especially qualified to say what is special about America. Having grown up in a different society — in my case, Mumbai, India — I am not only able to identify aspects of America that are invisible to the natives, but I am acutely conscious of the daily blessings that I enjoy in the United States. We’re heard a lot from the Islamic radicals and from the political left about what’s wrong with America. This Thanksgiving holiday, I thank God for what America makes possible for her people, and for what America has done for the world. Here, adapted from my book What’s So Great About America is my list of the 10 great things about America. — America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy. Rich people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for the “common man.” We now live in a country where construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids drive nice cars and where plumbers take their families on vacation to Europe. Indeed, newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities enjoyed by “poor” people. This fact was dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary, “People Like Us,” intended to show the miseries of the poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens and cars. They arrived… Read more »