Be Thankful, What’s the Big Deal?

Evidently, our very first president, George Washington, thought beingthankful was a big deal. In 1789 he declared the last Thursday in Novemberto be a national Thanksgiving holiday. The intention was to strengthen theunity of the American people by encouraging them to gather together tohonor their own families and give thanks for their country. Thanksgivingcelebrations were prevalent even before the Indians and the Pilgrims famousfeast. As time marched on, the people of the New England states continuedto celebrate the holiday but the people in the lower states went about theirown business ignoring it. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale*, an active participant inher own community, was appalled. She believed Thanksgiving should be apriority in America for All Americans. She made a decision to be activelyinvolved.While caring for her six children, she wrote letters for years toprominent people, magazine articles and editorials challenging others to takeup the cause of reinstating the National Holiday of Thanksgiving. Numerouswomen across the country joined Sarah in the challenge and began writingletters too. Some changes actually occurred. One by one, individual stateswere once again celebrating Thanksgiving. That wasn’t good enough forSarah, she wanted all people in every state to once again sit around theirtables on the same day and give thanks. She decided to go to the Presidenthimself. She wrote to President Zachery Taylor. He said no. Four yearslater, she wrote to President Franklin Pierce. He said no. Four years later,she wrote to President James Buchanan. He also said no. Finally, four yearslater, she got the attention of President Abraham Lincoln. He said, “Yes”! In1863 he declared the fourth Thursday in November as a ThanksgivingNational Holiday! That Sarah, she didn’t take no for an answer. She kept atit for thirty-eight years! What a life changer! Wow, thank you, Sarah.So what’s the big deal about being thankful? I wanted to find outwhat Google had to say so just for fun I googled the two words, being andthankful. I was pretty amazed at the amount of information that came up. Inthe search I found a fun turkey cartoon that made me laugh. Hope you likeit too. You can see it by clicking on:http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Thanksgiving/turkeycartoon.htmMost of my research explained how when people are thankful for whatthey have, they feel better about themselves and the world around them. Ibelieve that too. Whenever I’m in a fowl mood (pun intended) I get out my