Editors note: These editorials originally appeared Nov. 23, 2017.
Kirsten Hazelton, a second grade teacher at Southside Elementary School in Sarasota, gave her students an assignment for Veterans Day. One of those students, Rhys Parry, 7, wrote a letter to his uncle, a captain in the Marine Corps Raiders, its special forces division.
Parry thanked his uncle for serving. And by way of every childs uncanny ability to state simple, direct truths and profound common sense, young Parry wrote:
Freedom is the best thing in the world.
If only every American took that to heart. Especially today. What a tragedy that so many dont appreciate that truth. They take their freedom for granted, oblivious to this extraordinary gift.
So be thankful today. Block out the noise, the national politics, the cultural strife and the depravity that has consumed us. As you gather with family and friends for your traditional Thanksgiving feast, we take this space this week to urge our readers to take stock, at least for a few minutes.
If you think deeply enough about the meaning of Thanksgiving, there is so much more to this day than being thankful for the bounty on our tables. So much more to Thanksgiving than the story of the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims celebrating the harvest with the Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621, or thanking God for the end of the drought in 1622.
To a great extent, the first Thanksgivings were the celebratory culminations of the miraculous journey of a small band of Europeans in search of a place to be free to escape persecution and be free to practice their religion and their way of life.
That was their raison dtre freedom of religion. And today, you can say that principle is the fundamental rock, the bedrock, the perpetual birthstone of America.
And yet, here we are, 400 years later, continuing to fight for that right and principle. And if you think about that, consider also what it will require to preserve that right and the other rights granted to us in the Constitution.
Take inspiration from the courage of the Pilgrims and how they persevered through the long, harrowing journey from England to Holland to Plymouth Rock. Freedom will always be a difficult journey.
Weve made a tradition each year of retelling the story and roots of Thanksgiving because the story of the Pilgrims helps reset our compass. It reminds us how we came to be the New Hope in the New World. It reminds us of why we came to be. It reminds us of the price our ancestors paid to be free and to be free to worship as they wished. It reminds us to be thankful for all the blessings we have. And it reminds us that Rhys Parry is right:
Freedom is the best thing in the world.
Happy Thanksgiving.
The roots of Thanksgiving Day go far deeper than the story of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Yes, they were thankful to God for their bountiful harvest and their newfound Native American friends.
But if you can imagine yourself in the shoes of any of the original 102 Pilgrims who sailed from Leiden, Holland, for America, a land unknown, and who survived that tumultuous journey, followed by two years of near starvation, your gratitude simply for being alive would put a whole new perspective on Thanksgiving. It was far more than being thankful for a big fall harvest and feast.
Seldom, if ever, do we focus in our history texts on the details that compelled the Pilgrims also known as separatists, Puritans and Calvinists to set sail. The textbooks typically mention they fled religious persecution. But especially today, in this world of widespread and horrific religious persecutions, its instructive to remember the details of why the Pilgrims mustered the courage to cross the Unknown Ocean for freedom: for religious freedom.
In his 500-page account of Plymouth Plantation, Gov. William Bradford wrote how his fellow Calvinists in England became hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them.
For some were taken and clapped up in prison; others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and most were fain to flee and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood, Bradford wrote.
After a year of this and meeting in secret to practice their worship of God, they saw they could no longer continue in this condition, and resolved to get over into Holland. The people of Amsterdam, they had heard, accepted the free practice of religion.
But sailing 200 miles to the Netherlands was no small matter. It was a monumental ordeal. Bradford describes the fear many of the separatists had of leaving England, as bad as it was, as a misery worse than death.
But these things did not dismay them for their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy his ordinances, Bradford wrote.
The trip to Holland was horrible for many. Chartered ship operators, once at sea with the separatists, robbed them, ransacked their belongings, molested many of the women and then sailed back into the original port and turned over the separatists to local authorities, who then imprisoned them.
Amazingly, the separatists didnt give up. Some few shrunk at these first conflicts and sharp beginnings, Bradford wrote, yet many more came on with fresh courage and greatly animated others. And in the end, notwithstanding all these storms of opposition, they all got over at length.
For 12 years, the Calvinist-separatist-Pilgrims lived and practiced their religion in freedom and peace in Leiden, an area within Holland where many of them became weavers.
And then the trouble began again.
Bradford wrote of Arminians, who greatly molested the whole state and university professors and other preachers who began to slander the Pilgrims religious practices.
The tormenting rose to such a level that Bradford said some of his neighbors preferred being in prison in England than this liberty in Holland, with these afflictions.
Distressed by the increasing abuse, the separatists elders began to look ahead. They believed within a few years they were fearful either to be entrapped or surrounded by their enemies and unable to flee.
Whats more, they worried about their children. It was common for children to labor long hours in the mills, their bodies bowed under the weight. Many children also were falling to the temptations of youthful licentiousness and being drawn into extravagant and dangerous courses, Bradford wrote. Parents saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted.
At the same time, many of the separatists looked outward and spoke among their neighbors of advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world, Bradford wrote.
All three of these influences persecution, the well-being of their families future generations and spreading Gods word combined to motivate the Pilgrims to seek a new beginning. As they discussed their options, Bradford wrote, It was answered. The difficulties were many, but not invincible.
So they set sail to a land unknown. Bradford wrote of winds so fierce and the seas so high and the Mayflower shroudly shaken and leaky, raising the constant fear the ship would sink and that they would perish at sea.
When they finally stepped on land in the Cape Cod harbor, Bradford wrote, the Pilgrims fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof.
Visit link:
The Bedrock of America - YourObserver.com
- 'For All Mankind' season 4 episode 1 review: Lots of moving parts ... - Space.com - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Five Surprisingly Perfect Song and Sci-Fi Book Pairings - tor.com - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Retired Apollo program physcist to speak at First Colony Branch ... - Fort Bend Star - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Have Elon Musk Been To Mars? - TickerTV News - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Bodily Indignities of the Space Life - The New York Times - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Can Elon Musk Buy The Moon? - TickerTV News - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Report: SpaceX Safety Lapses Leading to Severe Staff Injuries - Gizmodo - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Luke O'Neill: 'Diverse' group needed to form Mars colony - Newstalk - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Lessons learned from first season with pitch timer, new MLB rules - MLB.com - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Opinion | Elon Musk, Geoff Hinton, and the War Over A.I. - The New York Times - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Warhammer 40K: The Imperium Is Ignoring A Lot Of STCs Sitting ... - BoLS - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Every Major City & Town In Starfield, Ranked By Vibes - Screen Rant - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Starfield Could Learn A Lot From Fallout: New Vegas' Wild Wasteland - DualShockers - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- 'Tech Week' summer program concludes at Kurn Hattin Homes for ... - Brattleboro Reformer - August 14th, 2023 [August 14th, 2023]
- The 'Reality Check' Era Of The EV Transition Is Upon Us - The Autopian - August 14th, 2023 [August 14th, 2023]
- Humanity's Return To The Moon And The Prospect Of South Pole ... - Hackaday - August 14th, 2023 [August 14th, 2023]
- The Biggest Horror Movie Flops of the 2000s - MovieWeb - July 26th, 2023 [July 26th, 2023]
- The Future of Space Exploration: Upcoming Missions, Technologies ... - Medium - July 26th, 2023 [July 26th, 2023]
- Steam free games: download and keep 12 titles right now - GAMINGbible - July 26th, 2023 [July 26th, 2023]
- Elon Musk Emerges as the Wealthiest Individual on Earth - Clayton County Register - July 26th, 2023 [July 26th, 2023]
- I'm Hooked on The Banished Vault's Bad Times Generation - Paste Magazine - July 26th, 2023 [July 26th, 2023]
- Everything We Know About Stars On Mars - Screen Rant - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- United Arab Emirates Announces New Mission to the Asteroid Belt - Sky & Telescope - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Best space settlement games: Manage bases & build cities on other ... - Space.com - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Dr. Bruce Bugbee Returns to Cannabis Conference to Share Latest ... - Cannabis Business Times - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- 25 states Americans visit the most | | thewetumpkaherald.com - Wetumpka Herald - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- 25 Best Blockbusters of the 2010s, Ranked - Collider - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Inside Bungie's First Ship Beset by Aliens and Rogue AI - The UESC ... - BoLS - May 31st, 2023 [May 31st, 2023]
- Starship Explodes During Test Flight: What to Know About SpaceX's ... - Smithsonian Magazine - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly": Image Shows the Moment ... - Inverse - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- Did the Curiosity rover find alien bones on Mars? - Syfy - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- SpaceX releases simulation video of trip to Mars - Travel Tomorrow - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- Fired on Mars cast: Who stars in the animated comedy series - Hidden Remote - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- Thanks to NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can now circumnavigate the Martian surface - Syfy - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- Interpreting the space travel craze | WORLD - WORLD News Group - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- From Wall Street to the Vatican, no one has been spared Twitters paid blue tick policy - The Economic Times - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- 6 best meme coins to buy in 2023 | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- Ved Chirayath is on a mission to map the worlds oceans - Newswise - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- 10 Movies to Watch if You Loved 2001: A Space odyssey - MovieWeb - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- This nonprofit wants to reduce plastic waste one Austin business at ... - KUT - April 22nd, 2023 [April 22nd, 2023]
- To the countryside or into outer space? 1970s utopias about escaping the city - Domus IT - February 2nd, 2023 [February 2nd, 2023]
- Tiverton firm making more parachute fabric for Mars - January 25th, 2023 [January 25th, 2023]
- Goofy Mars Rock Spotted by NASA Rover Might Be a Meteorite - January 17th, 2023 [January 17th, 2023]
- Mars rover Perseverance spots Ingenuity helicopter resting on sand dune ... - January 17th, 2023 [January 17th, 2023]
- Newsroom Discovery, Inc. - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Nostradamus' New Year 2023 Predictions: From Cannibalism On Earth And World War 3; Heres Some Shocking Claims Made By The French Astrologer - SpotboyE - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Mars Base Simulation in Poland to Lock People in a Habitat ... - Insider - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Colonizing Mars: Practicing Other Worlds on Earth | Origins - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- You Can Build Colonies On Moon, Mars, With Help From... - NDTV - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- The death of Twitter has dragged on too long. Please, Elon, put us out of our misery - The Guardian - December 4th, 2022 [December 4th, 2022]
- Musk trial over Tesla pay package looks considers his attention span and his friendships with board members - Los Angeles Times - November 19th, 2022 [November 19th, 2022]
- What happens if you grow plants on the Moon? New study shows how they react - Interesting Engineering - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Visualized: The Best Universities in America - Visual Capitalist - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Build and defend a base on an alien world in this surprisingly deep survival sim - PC Gamer - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Elon Musk and ex-lover Grimes believed she was an IMAGINARY character created to be his perfect g... - The US Sun - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- SpaceX Mars program - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Human mission to Mars - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Underground Microbes May Have Existed in Ancient Mars [Study] - Nature World News - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Elon Musk dreams of dying on Marsnow he might be one of the pioneering colonists - Fortune - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Twitter Employees are SHOOK Once Again About Elon Musk's Takeover, Even as the Deal Might Still Fall Through - Barstool Sports - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Exclusive First Preview Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike And The Quest For Stale Gum - Game Informer - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Artificial Gravity Lowers Spaceflight's Health Toll on Fruit Flies - Intelligent Living - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Dinner on Mars: How to grow food when humans colonize the red planet - CBC.ca - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Why the Space Race Isn't the Answer to the Climate Crisis - Green Queen Media - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike And The Quest For Stale Gum coming to consoles and PC as well as the NES - Real Otaku Gamer - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- 15 film recommendations for Indy's Heartland Film Festival - IndyStar - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Nasa investigating mystery object that has attached itself to Mars helicopter... - The US Sun - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- History mars ties between queen, ex-colony Cyprus - Breitbart - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Mars looks blinding as Webb telescope zooms in on Red Planet for the first time - India Today - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Space cement could be used to build houses on Mars and the Moon - Interesting Engineering - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- From space to the third world war, these are Nostradamus's top 5 predictions for 2023 - News Day Express - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- More People Need to Watch The Absolute Best Sci-Fi Show on Prime Video - CNET - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Should We Create a Permanent Base On The Moon? Explorersweb - ExplorersWeb - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Heres Why NFTs Are Poised To Witness Hypergrowth, Per John G - News Ghana - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- 6/30 Flashback: It's the freakiest show | Fred Clark - Patheos - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion UnicornThe fantasy of kibbutz capitalism - WSWS - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- The Ultimate Guide To An Adventurous Antarctica Vacation - Maxim - Maxim - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- NASA Astronauts Prepare For Mission To Mars By Spending Year Living In Simulated Colony On Venus - The Onion - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- Build on Mars and get rewarded: Mars4 releases their first game demo - AMBCrypto News - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- Elon Musk, Mars and the Holy Shechinah - Yated.com - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]