Stripped of propaganda, hypocrisy and historical revisionism, the story of “thanksgiving” is thus:
European pilgrims came to this nation looking for a place filled with opportunities. Some came for religious freedom. Some came to start over. But all came with the hopes of prosperity. Upon arriving, the pilgrims found an abandoned village which soon became their own settlement. It was hard work building a new life and their Calvinistic work ethic wasn’t enough to carry them through. Thankfully, they made friends with a local who already spoke English (Squanto) because he had learned the language while serving as a slave to Europeans abroad. Squanto helped these early colonists survive.
As time passed, the settlers formed an uneasy peace with the Wampanoag nearby, who at that time numbered at least 12,000. But in the years that followed, they were almost wiped out,, like many other peoples, suffering genocide under self-proclaimed “Christians” who longed to fulfill their “Manifest Destiny”. As their numbers increased, the Native population decreased. Our “blessings” came at great price for those who previously dwelt these lands.
The Thanksgiving holiday, although held for many years, was popularized in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.
According to Lincoln:
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
However, truth be told, when we believe that such abundance comes from the will of God, rather than through our own sins, we sanction our evil. Now, that isn’t to say that we should not be thankful for the blessings we have received. It is to say, however, that if we are going to be thankful, we must also be angstful. We must lament and repent for the ways in which our affluence has come unjustly. If we believe that the various empires who oppressed the Israelites deserved their judgment, yet overlook the same abuses by “America”, we are living in a double-standard that God, immutable as He is, does not share.
In the writings of the early disciples, blessing is rarely ever tied to material wealth. In fact, it is often the poor who are called “blessed”. We are told to be content because of things such as suffering and persecution and salvation.
So let this day be one where we see without illusions, where we lament the sins of the nations in which we reside as we honestly thank Jesus for those things that are truly blessings from Him.
Often one to wax on some ideal of Thanksgiving, the title threw me, but I dove in and read Happy Angstgiving –
http://dscapes.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/416/
–even while I had vague wishes to be at a family table gathering.
My take home message is “take the bitter with the sweet” to which I give thanks, but what I’m facing up to as squarely as I can is seeing the illusion of my own making, that seeking to find self-existence, and to transcend it.
Without apology, I know my present situation is a result of my yearnings, earnings, material, emotional, and other acumulations — all that jazz.
Before I can transcend it, I better see it without overlay or pretense.
And without giving thanks to That, I’d be nowhere.
Thanks.
Indeed, we ought to be thankful for God’s abundant blessings—the steadfast love of the LORD endures forever! Oh, to be more grateful to God than I am.
Also, I agree: I think white Europeans (especially those of us who have been living in the US for generations and generations) ought to honestly know about the crimes of our history—so as to enable restitution and goodwill. In order to achieve restoration between peoples, we need to understand history accurately. I really want to learn more about the crimes white Europeans (possibly my forefathers) committed (or passively stood by and watched be committed) against “Native Americans”. I am far too ignorant on this subject, which cuts me off from doing anything meaningful to repair breech.
So, now that I have honestly expressed some of the feelings that your post stirred within me, I must mention another feeling—surprise and a twinge of outrage.
I think accuracy is imperative to our recounting of history. (And I think you would agree.) So, I was a bit shocked when you jumped from a motley band of pilgrim Europeans settling into an uneasy peace with the Wampanoags to so-called “Christians” massacring Native Americans—the pace of your story was radically accelerated, significantly simplified, and (it seems to me) spuriously mislabeled. Wasn’t “Manifest Destiny” a much later movement? I didn’t think “Manifest Destiny” dealt directly with European Americans relations with Native Americans!
Here’s from Wikipedia:
“Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. It was used by Democrats in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid 1850s.”
You jumped from the 17th century to the 19th century, my friend! Which tribes were treated by which groups of Europeans in what manner at what time?
I truly want to understand, but the trap of oversimplification is so vicious. Vilification and immortalization are treacherously easy modes to adopt—and I suppose I am not immune either.
Ah, you are correct. What I was doing was tracing the consequences of the attitudes prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries in the 19th century by mentioning Manifest Destiny.
However, as you noted, the white European Protestants didn’t even bother to ascribe the justification for their blood thirst to God by claiming something like Manifest Destiny. They just said, “We want it, we have matchlocks–it’s ours!”
No oversimplification can be misleading. But it’s all too easy to resort to.