“The first Thanksgiving is a historic event recreated in schoolrooms across Southern Missouri every November.  Students assemble Pilgrim hats and Native American headdresses cut from multicolored construction paper.  These creations are worn in a Thanksgiving play or a re-enactment of the meal.

 

Today, we are far more likely to spend Thanksgiving at home with close family than with
complete strangers.  The holiday has evolved greatly since the days of Pilgrims and Native Americans.  Today, there is probably a roaring fire in the fireplace, a great meal which has been anticipated for days, and a football game on the television.  We are unlikely to even set foot outside our front door, unless it is to travel over the river and through the woods.

 

To a great extent, the fellowship and goodwill of Thanksgiving has been phased out over the centuries, as Thanksgiving has come to signal the onslaught of four shopping weeks until Christmas. 

 

In order to help bring back the true meaning of Thanksgiving, I want to encourage the use of a pretty common tradition.  In my house, after we say a prayer over the meal and before we raise our glasses in a toast, everyone seated at the table takes a turn to say what they are thankful for this year.  Those few minutes when the television is off, before the turkey is carved or the cranberries are dished up are, to me, the most important of the holiday.

 

Let me offer a few examples:

 

I am thankful there are men and women in the uniform of our country spending their
Thanksgiving far from home, in the service of our nation, protecting freedom and liberty for us all.

 

I am thankful we live in the most beautiful land on earth, with the Mississippi River to our East, the rolling hills of the Ozark Mountains to our West, the Bootheel flatlands to our South, and the fertile prairie everywhere in between.

 

I am thankful for our forefathers, for the nation they created so carefully, and for our
Constitution, the map they made to guide us on our way.

 

I am thankful for good neighbors, wise judges, brave police officers and swift-footed first
responders.  I give thanks for dedicated teachers, librarians and school faculty, tireless farmers, doctors and nurses with their gentle natures, public servants and volunteers – the ones serving us now and those who will serve us in the future.  I express my gratitude for the people everywhere who work on behalf of others and who greet everyone they meet with a smile.

 

I am thankful for loving family, for safe travel, and for good health.

 

I am thankful for the blessing of life in America, where we can sit around a dinner table and contemplate our children’s and grandchildren’s futures – only to find that the possibilities are limitless.  I might be sitting down to a table with a future inventor, a future business mogul, a future artist, or a future president.  At the same time, I am thankful for the certainties.  I know they will have good educations, strong Southern Missouri values, the right to vote, and a stake in their country.  I am thankful for all the sacrifices that make their future possible.

 

And, finally, I am thankful that parts of our nation like Southern Missouri exist and thrive.  I am thankful that the values we hold are being passed down from these generations to the next.  And I am thankful that we face no shortage of strong leaders for tomorrow.

 

As you can see, there are plenty of things to reflect upon before the fork hits the turkey.  But that’s more than enough for now, I think.  Go ahead and dig in!”