May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. ~Psalm 20:4
The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 in Plymouth, Mass following the winter of 1620 in which 50% of the colonists had died. This resulted in the colonists forming a relationship with the Wampanoag Indians who showed them how to fish, hunt, forage in the new coastal environment. By the Autumn of 1621 they had such a bounty of food and provisions to get them through the Winter of 1621 that they invited the Wampanoags to attend a feast that lasted 3 days. The menu would not have our modern Thanksgiving fare, instead it would have consisted of roasted goose, corn, lobster, and shellfish.
That first Thanksgiving gave way to a more religious theme over the years leading up to and during the Revolution. It was more prayer, fasting, and giving thanks to God. The governors of each colony would declare a day of Thanksgiving for such things as a bountiful harvest, victories in battle, or drought ending rain.
In 1777, the newly formed Continental Congress declared a day of Thanksgiving following our victory at Saratoga. Yet we still did not have a designated day for Thanksgiving, thus each year the celebration could differ by weeks and even months.
It wasn’t until a determined magazine editor by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale set out on a mission to establish a National Thanksgiving Day. She passionately believed that Thanksgiving could unite a country on the verge of civil war. She wrote letters to leaders in Washington including President Lincoln and was tireless in her efforts. In 1863 following the victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln signed into law that the last Thursday in November would be designated as Thanksgiving Day with hope it would be an important day to begin to heal and reunite the country.
By the 20th Century, Thanksgiving became a welcome break in the 6-day work week. By the 1920’s the National Football League (NFL) had formed and a fledgling Detroit Lions franchise decided to play on Thanksgiving to boost attendance. The Lions still play the early game as they have since 1934 minus 6 years during WWII.
Parades and the origins of Black Friday appeared as part of Thanksgiving and in 1924, the first Macy’s Day Parade took place. This year marks the 99th year of the parade. I was at the 83rd when my daughter, Jessica was a member of the Dobyns-Bennett Band. It was a bucket list event without question! This year it is expected that 3.5 million will attend the parade along its course, 44 million will watch on tv, and the city will collect about $25 million of revenue that day.
So, here are My Views on Thanksgiving. I urge my readers to return to the roots of Thanksgiving this year, especially this year. Don’t let the urgency of the season take your eyes or attention away from the gifts, the talents, the exceptionalism of your family, friends, community & country. We have so much, not things, but most importantly we have our relationships with each other.
Let’s not allow the material culture to call us consumers. We are citizens of the greatest country in the world. We don’t build walls to keep people in our country! We are the United States of America and we have so much more in common than we disagree on.
Don’t let yourselves be exploited by your biases and your sources of information. There will be other opportunities to engage in thoughtful disagreement.
But, on this holiday, really think about the first Thanksgiving and the cooperation between the Pilgrims and the Indians and how in the 1700s it became more about giving thanks to God. Today let Thanksgiving be a day when the divided are on a healing, reuniting path.
Don’t forget it was an ordinary citizen, Sarah Josepha Hale who saw the need for a day of thanks and with her persistence and her pen she demonstrated the power of persuasion.
So, when I sit down with my family on Thanksgiving, we will not talk politics. We will talk about the Vols and we will catch up on each other’s lives… what’s good, what’s not so good. We will listen to each other, we will laugh, we will cry, but mostly we will love each other. I pray this is what it is like at your house.
Let me close with a couple things that I am thankful for:
- Each of you, our clients…without you we would not be celebrating our 59th Thanksgiving together.
- My B&H team that sees their responsibility to serve as an honor and a mission they accept without hesitation.
- The continued support of the B&H Family
- The market and most importantly your portfolios that are performing beautifully.
Those are but a few things to be thankful for.
I leave you with this verse from the Gospel of Matthew, when the Pharisees asked Jesus which of the commandments was most important. Jesus gave them a 2 for 1, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” And then he added a second, “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the laws and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:36-40
Thank you so much for being a member of the B&H family! “The Best is Yet to Come!”
Keep the Faith, God Bless America and our B&H Family wishes you and your family a Very Happy Thanksgiving!!!