The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-10-26
Oday
AND
L Onr1OrrOw
THANKSGIVING da
By
Frank Parker Stockridge

THANKSGIVING date
/ am not greatly concerned, as
many people seem to be, over the
Presidents break with tradition
in proclaiming November q as
Thanksgiving Day instead of the
customary last Thursday in Nov
ember. The date is not important.
The important thing is that we OF
America should be reminded, at
least once year, that we have
something for which we should
give thanks to God.
I could make long list of
material blessings in which the
people of this nation share more
beautifully than do those of any
other nation in the world. We
are surrounded by luxuries de-
MED to most people, to which we
have become so accustomed that
we take them as commonplace of
everyday life.
Nobody in America is allowed,
or ever has been allowed in my
rather long lifetime, to 60 with
out food, shelter or clothing if
his neighbors knew it.
But if I were to try to analyze
the various things for which
Americans should be most thank
full, think I would head the list
with something much less tangi-
BILE than motor-cars or modern
plumbing. The one thing this
country has in a greater degree
than any people have ever had
since history began is liberty.
LIBERTY death
Liberty is a spiritual concep-
tion," said Woodrow Wilson, in
one of his stirring addresses. ut
is a conception for which men
will fight to the death, sacrifice
ing their own lives that others
may have liberty. That is why we
honor the man at arms who has
risked even life itself more than
we honor the honest man of trade
who has risked nothing but his
wealth."
America was founded and has
been populated by people who
risked the danger of crossing the
seas to an unknown land in
search of liberty such as was de-
MED them in their native lands.
To some liberty meant oppor-
tunity to enlarge their worldly
possessions. To others it meant
freedom from religious tyranny.
To every American today it
means, or should mean, that here
alone, among all the nations OF
the world, are men free to think,
speak,, believe, write and act as
they please, so long as they do
not infringe the rights OF every
body else to do the same thing.
For the cornerstone of liberty
is tolerance. The surest way to
put an end to liberty is to attempt
to curb the liberties of others.
TOLERANCE concern
The chief difference between
the democratic concept Of liberty
and the nations which are just
now trying to destroy democracy
is that the scheme of the dict2-
torships is to mold all people in
to a common pattern and sup
press or eliminate those who dc
not conform to the pattern.
Liberty ends whenever any
particular racial or religious class
or group tries to impose its Gus
toms or beliefs upon the rest OF
the people, or attempts to deny
the right of the people Of any
race or class to hold their own
beliefs and to live according to
their racial and religious tradi-
tons. I see so many signs in
America Of that sort of intole-
rance that I am beginning to be
concerned about it.
distrust
The history of America did not
begin with any great display of
the spirit of tolerance. The first
settlers in what is now the Unit
ed States were the Spanish in
the Southwest, the English in
and Massachusetts,, the
Dutch in New York, the Swedes
in New Jersey and Delaware, the
French in Louisiana and the Ger
mans in Pennsylvania, with a
sprinkling of Irish, Scotch and
Jews in almost all of the colo
MES.
They distrusted each other, as