OT: Thanksgiving

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

Somebody posted this to another list ... it's just one on mny, many

tales of the Pilgrims .. though I expect there is some realism in this

one from a historical point of view.

 

I know that within a few years of the Pilgrims landing, there were a

couple of Indian tribes that were history too .. Butch

----------------------

 

The real meaning of Thanksgiving

 

© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

 

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the people

responsible for the American Thanksgiving tradition. Contrary to popular

opinion, the Pilgrims didn't wear buckles on their shoes or hats. They

weren't teetotalers, either. They smoked tobacco and drank beer. And,

most importantly, their first harvest festival and subsequent

" thanksgivings " weren't held to thank the local natives for saving their

lives.

 

Do you know there are public schools in America today actually teaching

that? Some textbooks, in their discomfort with open discussions of

Christianity, say as much. I dare suggest most parents today know little

more about this history than their children.

 

Yet, there is no way to divorce the spiritual from the celebration of

Thanksgiving – at least not the way the Pilgrims envisioned it, a

tradition dating back to the ancient Hebrews and their feasts of Succoth

and Passover.

 

The Pilgrims came to America for one reason – to form a separate

community in which they could worship God as they saw fit. They had

fled England because King James I was persecuting those who did not

recognize the Church of England's absolute civil and spiritual

authority.

 

On the two-month journey of 1620, William Bradford and the other elders

wrote an extraordinary charter – the Mayflower Compact. Why was it

extraordinary? Because it established just and equal laws for all

members of their new community – believers and non-believers alike.

Where did they get such revolutionary ideas? From the Bible, of course.

 

When the Pilgrims landed in the New World, they found a cold, rocky,

barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them,

Bradford wrote. No houses to shelter them. No inns where they could

refresh themselves. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims died of

sickness or exposure – including Bradford's wife. Though life improved

for the Pilgrims when spring came, they did not really prosper. Why?

Once again, the textbooks don't tell the story, but Bradford's own

journal does. The

reason they didn't succeed initially is because they were practicing an

early form of socialism.

 

The original contract the Pilgrims had with their merchant-sponsors in

London called for everything they produced to go into a common store.

Each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of

the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the

community. Bradford, as governor, recognized the inherent problem with

this collectivist system.

 

" The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried

sundry years ... that by taking away property, and bringing community

into common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they

were wiser than God, " Bradford wrote. " For this community [so far as it

was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much

employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young

men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that

they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives

and children without any recompense ... that was thought injustice. "

 

What a surprise! Even back then people did not want to work without

incentive. Bradford decided to assign a plot of land to each family to

work and manage, thus turning loose the power of free enterprise. What

was the result?

 

" This had very good success, " wrote Bradford, " for it made all hands

industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have

been. "

 

As a result, the Pilgrims soon found they had more food than they could

eat themselves. They set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the

Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the

merchants in London much faster than expected. The success of the

Plymouth colony thus attracted more Europeans and set off what we call

the " Great Puritan

Migration. "

 

But it wasn't just an economic system that allowed the Pilgrims to

prosper. It was their devotion to God and His laws. And that's what

Thanksgiving is really all about. The Pilgrims recognized that

everything we have is a gift from God – even our sorrows. Their

Thanksgiving tradition was established to honor God and thank Him for

His blessings and His grace.

 

Today we continue that tradition in my home – and I hope in yours. God

bless you, God bless America, and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com

and writes a daily column. Get an autographed, first-edition copy of

Joseph Farah's 1996 book, " This Land Is Our Land, " published by St.

Martin's Press.