WELCOME November 19, 2001 Issue

The power of gratitude

Dave Hohle

In the fall of 1621, 90 Native Americans of the Wampanoag tribe shared a Thanksgiving celebration with a group of Pilgrims along the New England coast. The Wampanoags provided the majority of the food: five deer, wild turkeys, fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, berries.

It had been a tough year for the settlers. Nearly half had died the previous winter: But through the summer, the native people befriended them and helped them learn how to survive in the new land. Now, better prepared for the coming winter, they gathered together in gratitude for God's goodness.

Almost 250 years later, in the heat of a brutal civil war, United States President Abraham Lincoln formalized the developing thanksgiving tradition by proclaiming a National Thanksgiving Day to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday of November. Is it possible that Lincoln, known for his moral courage and innate spirituality, saw that a day devoted to giving thanks could help move a battle-torn country toward unity and healing?

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