Giving Thanks  In a Tough Year

IT hardly seems the best time to be giving thanks for our blessings.

It is a year when war and reconstruction in Iraq, suicide bombings in Turkey and the Middle East, and American soldiers coming home in coffins from Iraq and Afghanistan are familiar sights.

For many there is little to be thankful for, especially military families all over the U.S. We only have to look at the dreadful dangers our men and women in the military face every day as they seek to bring an uneasy peace to Iraq and the endless drumbeat of casualties. 

How many homes this Thanksgiving season will be filled with sorrow and with sadness because a brave young man or woman has given his life for his country?

Of course there is always the fear that the worst is yet to come, and there continues to be a deep uneasiness about the future. We have seen what the terrorist bombers can do on American soil and overseas, and we all remain concerned that the terrorist threat could once again manifest itself on our shores.

We worry, as all generations do, what kind of world our children will grow up in. Once it was the threat of nuclear war, but now it is the threat from terrorism which predominates.

In the end, however, we still live in the greatest country on earth, the one that likely half the world aspires to and would move to if they got half a chance.

That remains the greatest answer to America’s critics, and they are legion worldwide at present. Given their choice, people voting their feet would make it clear that this country is the preferred destination for the world.

There are huge problems of course — much poverty, too little health insurance, too many powerful entities who do not have the best interest of the citizenry at heart, but it is still the land worth living in.

This Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the election cycle which will see a freely elected leader at this time next year take over the most powerful country on earth. He will do so not by force or stealth but by the will of the people. It is worth remembering how precious a commodity that is. 

Democracy was a brave experiment in the 18th century, and there was no guarantee that it would ever replace the divine right of kings or despots to rule. 

George Washington could easily have proclaimed himself king after the British were routed. That he did not do so and stepped down after his term is an extraordinary example of how a young nation set out to be different and lead the world.

This Thanksgiving, when we see the teething pains for democracy all over the world, especially in Iraq, we should remember just what a precious gift we have been handed. At a time when civil liberties are under assault, we should remember how the framers of the Constitution wished to ensure that no entity became more powerful than the people themselves.

Thanksgiving is perhaps the purest American tradition. at Christmas many who are not of the Christian faith are excluded. There is also the endless round of gift giving and the commercial aspect which can easily take away from the meaning of the day.

Thanksgiving is different, a celebration of what has been achieved and a recognition of how fortunate we are to share this bountiful land. We should never forget how many have sacrificed, and continue to do so, to ensure that we retain the freedoms that are the envy of the world. We must also never forget how lucky we are.