Practically Speaking
Kyle and her husband moved to Brookfield in 1986. She became active in local politics and started blogging in 2004. Her focus is primarily on local issues but often includes state and national topics, too. Kyle looks at things from the taxpayers' perspective in a creative, yet down to earth way, addressing them from a practical point of view.
"A Day of Publick Thanksgiving"
Thanksgiving, like many other holidays and historical events these days, is losing its original significance. Christmas has de-evolved into a holiday gift getting frenzy--totally ignoring the birth of Christ, the original reason for the holiday. Easter no longer celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ but instead is a time of Easter egg hunts, bunnies and ham dinners.
Thanksgiving lately is either skipped over entirely as the world of retail moves immediately from Halloween to Christmas Holiday decorations and catalog ads. If the November holiday is mentioned, it is now a time set aside for "Turkey Day" and thanking those around us. My son was given a children's music tape by Steve Chapin that had a whole song about Thanksgiving being a time to have a family dinner and thanking the earth for food! This is not what Thanksgiving was ever intended to be.
Thanksgiving is a holiday celebration set aside to thank the Almighty for His providential care for us. Not to thank the earth. Not to thank your wife or neighbor or baby sitter. I don't have a problem with thanking people; I think we should thank those who work hard or are helpful. It is just that thanking those around us was not the original intent of the holiday.
Lest you think I am indulging in a little revisionist history of my own, read this post from Thanksgiving 2006 to see what our first president had to say about this holiday.
“The father of our country understood that every action he took while president would establish a precedent for future officeholders, and he kept that in mind throughout his eight years in the White House. He wanted to make certain that future presidents acted with humility and respected the separation of powers among the three branches of government.”
That quote came directly from, The Everything American Government Book. Keep that quote in mind, that George Washington understood that every action he took established precedent, as you read his Thanksgiving proclamation of 1789.
Other presidents have made Thanksgiving proclamations since Washington. Tom Gehl included excerpts from Lincoln’s proclamation in his excellent blog piece from last year, For The Giving of Thanks.
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