The True Measure of Our Thanksgiving

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

W.T. Purkiser

Illustration by J.C. Leyendecker

Became a Habit

“Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for — annually, not oftener — if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man’s side, consequently on the Lord’s side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments.”

Mark Twain

The Saturday Evening Post, November 26, 1921 – Illustration by Joseph C. Leyendecker

Nov 27

The First Thanksgiving

“So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart.”

Arthur Guiterman
The First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, by Jennie A. Brownscombe, 1914

Nov 27

A Soulful Prayer

Illustration by Norman Rockwell for The Literary Digest, November 22, 1919

THANKSGIVING

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nov 27

An Expression of Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard wrote Thank U after returning from a trip to India in 1997. The song expresses the heartfelt gratitude which she felt at the time. The lyrics, such as “thank you terror” and “thank you frailty”, lend the song a sense of lyrical reflection on cynicism, despair, personal triumph and hope. Thank U is Morissette’s most commercially successful post-Jagged Little Pill single. The music video was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui.

Nov 27

To Reach the Roof

“God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole.”

Ramakrishna

Rajasthani temple