Thanksgiving traditions vary from family to family and are as diverse as Americans.
Our family enjoys feasting on the meal and then between dinner and dessert a glass of sparkling cider is poured as one by one everyone verbalizes what they are thankful for.
From the oldest to the youngest glasses are raised and tears are wiped away as we realize we have so much to be thankful for.
Then, it’s cousin Danny’s turn and among the things he is thankful for is the one thing we hadn’t heard yet, but is blatantly obvious. He is thankful we live in America, the greatest nation in the world.
Americans have a tendency to get patriotic at certain times of the year like the Fourth of July, Veterans Day and Memorial Day. But, who gets patriotic on Thanksgiving Day? It’s a day of feasting, family and football.
Danny was speaking what many of us forget amid the holiday hustle and the racial divide that still exists in this country.
Despite it’s many problems, and there are many, we live in a country where we are free to celebrate the holidays anyway we choose. We are free to come and go and travel freely without government restrictions.
America was founded with this principle in mind: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Gathering for the holidays with loved ones certainly falls within this concept.
We have so many reasons to be thankful this holiday season. We live in the most blessed country and have the right to pursue happiness at breakneck speed.
I’m thankful to be an American and to have had the privilege to serve my country.
•
Paul Barry is the managing editor and can be reached by email at paul.barry@vicksburgpost.com.