From a search of "Thanksgiving Day" +origin:
"Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday."
While many have a political, religious, or even commercial view of this holiday, I would like to point out that we should concentrate of the TITLE of the day - Thanksgiving...
President Lincoln designated this day as a National holiday after touring Gettysburg... one of the most horrific battlefields of the American Civl War. For the United States - a Nation that survived that terrible conflict - this day was reserved for giving thanks... This day does not require that we include God in it... although many of us do... To give thanks merely requires that we stop and think... What do you have to be thankful for?
This is a day to be thankful for what we have - blessings given to us through whatever medium that appeals to you. We can start by just being thankful for being alive... and go from there... And when tomorrow comes, we should be thankful for that as well... We can be thankful for people in our lives - loved ones, friends, caring acquaintences... We can be thankful for things that make our lives easier or bearable... We can even be thankful for things that change our lives or even challenge us... We can even be thankful when we help others less fortunate than us, or be the ones being helped...
For whatever reason... take time to take stock of your own blessings... and give thanks...
Happy Thanksgiving, my friends...
Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat
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