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Thanksgiving approaches... with its critics

Zachary Hagen

I get it, Critics of Thanksgiving. You really care about Native Americans, you have high moral standards, and you feel deeply for the people in this world no matter what the plight. However, as far as Thanksgiving goes, you aren’t helping anyone by bashing it. You might say, “Seriously?!” My response is, “Yes. Seriously.”

Let me explain. I grew up in a household where Thanksgiving was almost as big a deal as Christmas. Scratch that. Just as big as Christmas. My grandfather is part of the Mayflower Society, so we hold the real Thanksgiving story pretty close to our hearts.

Is the story perfect? No, but no human story is. However, the story is about friendship, giving thanks for God’s blessings and overcoming impossible odds. The pilgrims were starving to death, and the local Native Americans took pity on them, befriended them and helped them learn how to survive in the harsh wilderness of what would later be New England.

The Pilgrims were Puritans who were here for religious freedom, escaping the oppression they faced in Europe. This wasn’t a land-grab or a conquest. Were there some truly awful things done to Native Americans in North America? Without a doubt. But the story and purpose of Thanksgiving represents what we all need today more than ever: We can be friends with people who are different from us. We have a multitude of diversity today that didn’t even exist fifty years ago and Thanksgiving can remind us that a friend can come from anywhere and be anything.

I get that you want to save the world, but maybe the way to do that is to be the change you want to see. Show genuine love and compassion to people. Show them you care. Let social justice warriors be people who kill problems with kindness. Showing gratitude for the progress we have made so far during this season of Thanksgiving might be a start.

Image credit: Kirsten Wrba

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