Milford chronicle., 1951-11-16
FOR ALL OUR BLESSINGS
HUMBLE THANKS

When the Pilgrim cOl0niStS Joined in
Americas first Thanksgiving, there was NJ
spirit OF SmugneSs or complacency marking
that celebration.
They had experienced severe priVatiOns
IN their first desperate striving for mere
existence in new land far away from their
homes. They were thankful they had sur
Vlved and they were hopeful, with the help
OF Divine Providence, that their families
would grow and prosper on these strange
shores.
The bounty of the harvest wrested from
the SOIL was theirs only after toll and harsh
anxlety-and daily prayer. For their bless
lngs, IN all humility, they thanked their God
1t is in that same spirit of gratitude with
out false pride that Americans should OBJ
serve Thanksgiving next Thursday. We have
so very much to be thankful for! Not be-
cause we are better off materially than less
fortunate peoples; not because we have more
motor cars and teleVisiOn sets and better
stocked refrigerators than others not be-
cause our way of living includes comforts
and luxuries undreamed Of elsewhere.
II we give thanks like the Pharisee in
the Scriptures who thanked the Lord be-
cause ne was mot as other men," we degrade
Thanksgiving Day.
We have ample cause for gratefulness.
but there should go with it an awareness
OF our shortcomings and an understanding
of the problems and troubles affecting others.
We think America is the greatest coun-
try IN the world, without, often, giving much
attention, to the things to which it owes it's
greatness 1t is not its material progress, or
Its almost unlimited resources, that matter
so much, but the perseverance of a spiritual
quality that animated the first PILGRIMS. that
armOred the Nations founders in their ad-
VersltleS and that has since sustained us in
every national crisis.
1t is hard for any thinking American to
be SNUG If he gives moments thought to
those who have made possible the bleSSedy
free America OF today. The families who
feel so secure and cared-for after their holi-
day feaSting owe a need of thanks, for in
stance, to the men who will spend their
Thanksgiving Day shivering in the bleak
winds of North Korea.
We have freedoms and advantages in this
country that are shared by few others. We
can worship In the church of our choice. We
can raise our families, educate our children
and gain livelihood in our way and not as
police state dictates.
In our enjoyment of this good fortune.
we should not blind ourselves to the uncOnn-
Portable fact that all we have can be lost.
that nothing in this world is guaranteed to
remain intact and unchanged
Democracy's benefits are always dearly
DOuSuC anu QSdTly nelQ. II we DO not cherish
them very much, to the extent of fighting for
them, they can vanish overnight. If we think
little of our freedom, others will think even
less of it.
The Pilgrim families must have savored
their Thanksgiving feasts most of all be-
cause they had had to fight so hard to OBJ
tain the material for them They had no
supermarkets or deep-freezes They had to
hunt or grow their food, and cook it and eat
it under the crudest conditions in frail homes
they built with their own hands. But thew
were setting foundation of initiative and
self-enterprise that was to make their COLONY
grow into the worlds mightiest Nation.
They worked and they prayed. That is a
combination that has never yet been beaten.
It is one America needs as urgently now as
it did 300 years ago.
Thanksgiving is traditionally a day of
family reunion, of hearty feasting and re-
joicing. But it becomes a tawdry holiday in
deed, unless it is made also day of PRAYER.
OF humble thanksgiving to God for the bless
lngs He has bestowed upon us.
&0ONG
THE KOREAN WAR