Thanksgiving Thoughts

Those of you who know me know that I do hate holidays. I hate them for a variety of reasons, but most are either political or ethical. In the US every one of the "traditional" holidays have been commercialized, and some - like Columbus Day and Thanksgiving have been sanitized to cover atrocities. More on that in the addendum. But it is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for a number of things.

I am thankful that:

I have people who love and care about me;

my dogs are all relatively healthy;

the UTJ community exists and is committed to a better world;

I am alive to struggle for a better world;

Mt. Saint Helens hasn't blown up on us (knock on wood);

there are voices of reason and hearts with true compassion in the world;

I have a job I love, a warm place to sleep, and food to eat (I have not always had all of these, and rarely at the same time);

the will to life is stronger than the will to destruction;

I wish all of you a great day whether you celebrate or not, whether you are surrounded by family and friends or not.

Thanks to all of you for your support, and your hard work to keep hope alive.

Addendum
From The Dialectic of Social Inequality by Rowan Wolf

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 when the Governor declared a three day feast because the colony survived the winter. The next Thanksgiving was in 1637 [See Box 6.1]. Most of the “Thanksgiving Days” for the next 100 years were declared to celebrate victories against various Native American tribes. “The first national celebration of Thanksgiving was called for by George Washington. And the celebration was made a regular legal holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War (right as he sent troops to suppress the Sioux of Minnesota) (Revolutionary Worker)

Box 6.1 1637 Pequot Massacre Excerpted from a piece by William B. Newell

“The year was 1637. ... 700 men, women, and children of the Pequot Tribe gathered for their Annual Green Corn Dance in the area that is now known as Groton, Connecticut.

While they were gathered in this place of meeting, they were surrounded and attacked by mercenaries of the English and Dutch. The Indians were ordered from the building as they came forth, they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in the building.

The next day, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared: A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God they had eliminated over 700 men, women and children.”

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Newell, William B. From the Documents of Holland, 13 Volume Colonial Documentary History, letters and reports from colonial officials to their superiors and the King in England and the private papers of Sir William Johnson, British Indian Agent for the New York colony for 30 years.