Thanksgiving was founded as a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose.
The first Thanksgiving are commonly debated upon, but the general idea is that the pilgrims were on the brink of death, and by some miracle were blessed with food and the chance to live another day.
Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the harvest celebration that the Pilgrims held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, their first true thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a feast.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789 and has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863.
Thanksgiving Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
Today, Thanksgiving is a time when many families come together and is important remember our values and principles.
America’s Founding Fathers gave us the country’s founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and others. In order for them to form such documents, they had to lean upon some common understanding of law, government, social order and a basic moral code.
– The Dignity of Human Life:
If people and nations do not grant this respect and protection for the born and unborn, all other professed morals and values are meaningless
– The Traditional Family:
World history has proven over and again that preserving the traditional family is vital to the future of any great nation.
– A National Work Ethic:
Americans, hand-in-hand and heart-to-heart, helped one another and lifted our nation back to economic might.
– The Right to a God-Centered Education:
Our nation’s first president, George Washington, reminded us of the importance of a God-centered education when he said, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle…it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
– Common Decency:
Simply put, decent nations are made up of decent people who, when faced with a situation, would do the decent and honest thing.
In addition, the fellowship among members of the family nurture the bonds that are shared, affirming that the family is a place of love, care, healing, and forgiveness.
Happy Thanksgiving Day,
God Bless America.
Paul Chehade:.
Honor and Truth