Lyles: Reasons to set aside a day to give thanks

First they assaulted Christmas and Easter, now the left is taking on Thanksgiving. It is more than sad. It is a demonstration of ignorance and bigotry that should be held in disdain by every responsible thinker.

The bigotry stems from the fact that the Pilgrims were devoutly religious and the left doesn’t want anyone with strongly held religious convictions to be cast in a positive light for any reason. It also stems from the fact that a very small minority of Native Americans resent the Thanksgiving narrative and history because of bad things that happened to Native Americans later on in America’s history. They don’t want anyone of European ancestry to be cast in a positive light relative to Native Americans. Truth be damned.

Even though Thanksgiving was declared a National Holiday in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln to offer “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” most Americans had been celebrating for more than 200 years since the “first thanksgiving” in Plymouth in 1621. But because both the Pilgrims and Lincoln’s proclamation suggest we should be thankful to a deity, the anti-religious assault bigots simply can’t leave it alone.

Whether it is taking the Indians out of the Thanksgiving narrative, as is the new policy at Poway Unified School District, or opening the retail stores on Thanksgiving Day, thereby depriving retail workers of a holiday as business owners pursue profits, the assault is multi-dimensional, multi-faceted and above all, stupid.

Here are three reasons we should allow and encourage every American to set aside one day each year for thanksgiving.

Reflecting on what we each have to be thankful for in a more formal way at least once a year reminds us how blessed we are (or fortunate, if you prefer) to have the many benefits we enjoy as Americans. This helps combat the entitlement mindset that has crept into our culture by reminding ourselves to be grateful for our freedoms, liberty and opportunities. But thankfulness does more than merely combat a culture of entitlement. It inspires us to live our lives better, especially if we take heed of John Kennedy’s advice: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”

Thankfulness done properly forces people to think about two key words: to, and what. In order to be truly thankful for anything it is imperative I know to whom I am thankful and what I am thankful for. Some people may put “our beneficent Father” in the forefront as did Abraham Lincoln. Others may express thanks to friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers. By showing humility and thinking about what we have to be thankful for about the people we know, we make the world a better place.

Finally, gratitude elevates the human spirit. G.K. Chesterton said: “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” Although I wouldn’t consider country singer Willie Nelson one of the world’s great philosophers, he once had made an interesting observation regarding gratitude: “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”

A case can be made that America’s habit, which started before our nation was born, of setting aside a day each year to express gratitude on a national scale has been an important factor in creating a pervasive humbleness in the American psyche that has contributed to America becoming a leader among nations. Throughout our history we never took what we had for granted and it set us apart.