Giving thanks for expanding support system

The Thanksgiving holiday is part of our American heritage.

In fact, it was 400 years ago — in the autumn of 1621 — that the pilgrims hosted what our nation’s story has called the first Thanksgiving, celebrating their survival of a bitter winter and their success in planting and harvesting crops to sustain their small settlement. The story goes that they shared their feast with the Native Americans who taught them how to endure the climate and raise ample harvests.

It’s an idealist portrait, as our nation’s history is certainly marked with acts that contradict that tableau.

But the ideal of thanksgiving remains, remembering that 1621 model when settlers gathered to give thanks and express their gratitude to others.

On this day in 2021, households across our land will gather and share their own bounty with family and others as a way of expressing their thankfulness, just as those colonists did.

Close to home, this Thanksgiving may be closer to the normal celebration that we share before the pandemic and social distancing kept so many apart.

Across Marin County, we can be very thankful that so many of us and our neighbors have taken the responsibility, to our families and others’, to get vaccinated. To date, better than 90% of Marin residents have received at least one shot — a rate that is the highest of any California county.

For that, we should say thanks.

We should say thanks to Marin’s public health experts and community leaders who have made sure access to the vaccines has reached every neighborhood, regardless of race or wealth.

We should also be thankful for the work that’s being done to address homelessness across Marin, which has become a visible reminder that not every person shares in our county’s affluence.

The presence of homeless encampments that have taken root in Sausalito, San Rafael and Novato — and controversies and conflicts over what to do with them — should not detract from meaningful progress that is being made to increase housing opportunities and services aimed at not only meeting needs, but also hopefully helping them lift themselves off the streets.

Our community’s challenges would be far greater if not for the success and progress in that mission of compassion and goodwill.

Childrens’ TV star Fred Rogers — aka “Mister Rogers” — had some cogent advice for kids; counsel that adults could also take to heart. “The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings,” he said.

Across our county, many residents reflect that advice, volunteering their time and talent and investing their dollars toward helping others.

We’ve seen it in recent weeks, in local participation in food drives and turkey giveaways. Across our county, we have volunteers who work to help students build a love for learning and those who work to make sure that no one goes hungry.

We should be thankful to those who are sharing their blessings.

On this holiday, it’s time — whether you are in church pews, walking along the Tiburon waterfront or around Phoenix Lake or gathered around a table — to take time to pause, ponder and offer thanks for our blessings and our gratitude to those who have helped make them possible.

After last year’s challenges and changes, slowly moving back to normal where families and friends can safely gather is welcomed. It is a tradition that was sorely missed in 2020.

Four hundred years ago, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag joined for what has become known as the first Thanksgiving. As idealistic as this gathering has been presented over the years, it still serves as a model of peace, compassion and humanity — a model that is well worth sharing these days and in their myriad challenges.

To our readers, happy Thanksgiving.