Thanksgiving 2024
What is the truth about Thanksgiving and what is the myth?
Of course, there’s nothing more true than the truth, but the myth is also true, if you take the old and, well, true meaning of the word.
This parsing of language is appropriate as we celebrate the one national holiday that has nothing to do with war or soldiers — like the Glorious Fourth celebrating our independence won in blood from Britain, or Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
It’s also not about individuals, Lincoln and Washington, Martin Luther King and Columbus. Or a day associated with religion, like Christmas.
This is where the power of myth surfaces. The stories handed down from generation to generation — whether facts have been lost, obscured or tempered by time — reinforce what nations believe about the best part of themselves. And that best part of America is being grateful for what we have, and sharing.
This is the story every school child learns, passed down long ago about the Native Americans, who besides teaching the Pilgrims to fish, also taught them to grow corn, and both communities sat down in peace and broke bread together.
We’re taught that we’re free, and we’re all equal, and so have a duty to give thanks.
The myth did grow out of facts, but it’s fairly certain the Pilgrims didn’t just up and decide to hold the first Thanksgiving in 1621 and invite the Native Americans to dinner to thank them for their help in keeping the colonists’ community alive.
Early winter feasts giving thanks for bringing in a harvest that would guarantee survival through the coldest months were common in Europe and colonial America long before the Plymouth colony.
What is certainly true about Thanksgiving is it’s a day every American knows is set aside to remember an important element in the founding of our country. It means being grateful for what we have and sharing our good fortune.
The Thanksgiving stories we’ll tell, for everyone fortunate to be with loved ones at our November feast, should be about reminding us of an important element of our citizenship — remembering those who are not quite as secure as we are.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity “describes a household’s inability to provide enough food for every person to live an active, healthy life.”
In practical terms, it means people involuntarily cutting back on meals or not knowing where the next meal is coming from. And it’s estimated that 250,000 Long Islanders are numbered in this category.
Long Island Cares, our region’s first food bank, noted that this year it’s seeing a 44% increase in demand for their services. Long Island Cares can be reached at 631-582-3663 or i[email protected].
Closer to home is poverty on Shelter Island, which many of us don’t see. But School Nurse Mary Kanarvogel does, every day. She and others work with the Lions Club to distribute IGA food cards and, as she has said, help families with heating bills and warm clothes.
CAST (Center for Advocacy, Support, Transformation) serves more than 95 families with food through the Food Pantry Van that comes to the Island regularly.
They also provide healthy foods for our needy school children during school breaks when free breakfast and lunch programs are unavailable.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Reporter to you and your families.
