Today is time to put aside our differences
The tale of the first Thanksgiving starts with the harvest celebration of the Pilgrims and the Indians that took place in the autumn of 1623.
As the story goes, the two groups, one invaders in the other’s land, put aside their differences and broke bread together to celebrate a harvest of food coming in the midst of a tough year of survival.
The story of that first Thanksgiving, though far removed from what comprises differences and what constitutes hardship in 2018, has many of the same elements of today.
People of different backgrounds still approach each other with uncertainties. And when the barrier of differences is crossed, people come together for a common good.
That first Thanksgiving for the Pilgrims was in celebration of a bountiful harvest coming after a devastating winter months earlier.
The Indians had helped the newcomers to their world survive and had helped teach them how to hunt and grow crops that led to their bounty.
History tells us their feast lasted three days.
If there was ever a time to take to heart this story, it is this year. That first Thanksgiving story has lessons that remain in 2018.
We live in times of heartbreak and divisiveness.
Like the Pilgrims’ hardships brought by climate and difficulty growing crops in a different land, people in our nation today have lost their homes and beloved friends and family members to natural disasters. Hurricanes and flooding have affected our fellow citizens in the South, and in California, tens of thousands are homeless this Thanksgiving, victims of wildfires.
On the border, a caravan of migrants from Central America endures great hardship in a quest for a better life.
In our impatience for things to get better, we have become polarized and embraced old habits of mistrust and malevolence toward those different from us.
Our nation and our communities struggle with an atmosphere of divisiveness in government and among groups of people — a divisiveness that threatens to overcome any progress we may be making as a human race.
But when disaster strikes, whether as hurricane, fire or massacre in a synagogue, we find a way to overcome differences and rebuild what is broken.
This year has brought its share of devastation from natural disaster and tragedy from gun violence.
Families have been shattered by the unexplainable deaths of loved ones.
This has been a year of emotional anxiety and divisiveness along lines of race, sex and political beliefs.
The polarizing effect that was heightened for many people in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump as president has not lessened.
Attacks on both sides of the political spectrum continue, and the institutions of a free press and the balance of government powers are threatened.
And yet ...
Even in the face of adversity and always in its aftermath, people of all races, religions and political persuasions come together and work for a common good.
At the end of the day, both sides want to put the nation first.
Not so different than the Indians and the Pilgrims.
As Thanksgiving showed their coming together, this day can be our coming together. This can be the day we sit down to our own bounty, whether it is a meal offered at a local church or a family dinner.
As we break bread together, we give thanks for surviving what we have survived and achieving what we can achieve. Despite our troubles, we are blessed. Despite our differences, we are the same in our basic needs for food, shelter, companionship and purpose.
Those lessons from the first Thanksgiving are with us today.
Like our forefathers, let us celebrate the harvest and be thankful together for the bounty we share.