Last week America celebrated Thanksgiving but what does Thanksgiving mean? How many actually know the true meaning and the history of Thanksgiving?? When I was growing up in Ireland, I learned an Irish view of Thanksgiving. It was a day where Americans came together, ate Turkey, spent the day with their families and that Thanksgiving was the real holiday in America but not much else. As I got older it came to mean a full day of American Football. Then I started to research for myself and realised the truth….
Over the years Thanksgiving has changed a lot in meaning and those changes have a direct link to Progressivism that cannot be denied. We don’t know a lot about the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the pilgrims but we do know that they viewed it as a day to give thanks and also as a day for fasting. The next Thanksgiving was on October 3rd 1789. George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation where he laid out what the day means. Firstly he laid out its religious meaning, “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will” but he also spoke about the meaning of the holiday, “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God”. Fast forward to the next Thanksgiving which was on October 3rd 1863 where Abraham Lincoln spoke about, “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”. This was just another example of how America was different from the rest of the world. However that all changed in the Progressive era.
It started on October 31st 1908, Theodore Roosevelt said, “as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day I recommend that the people shall cease from their daily work” and continued changing all the way up to FDR changing the date of Thanksgiving to give people more time for Christmas shopping. These changes moved Thanksgiving away from honoring God and focused on resting from work and shopping. So where are we today??? This year, Barack Obama did not mention praising God in his proclamation. Today America is more interested in the entitlement society than God. Thanks to Obama and progressives in BOTH parties over the last century, JFK famous statement now reads, “Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you”. I want to highlight a few very troubling stories that highlight the pitfalls of the Entitlement Society.
I am sure most saw some of the headlines on Black Friday (side note: How is this not a racist term in America under Obama???) which included assault, shop-lifting and a woman using a stun gun and all to get a great deal. Do the morals of the American citizen disappear when they could get a couple of dollars off a new TV or some computer??? Or is it simply a case of these people being ENTITLED to that deal and no one will get in their way??? Another worrying trend that very few are discussing at length is the Knockout game. Yes there is now a game where you take a video on your cell of you walking up to a random stranger, sucker punching them and knocking them out which you then upload to YouTube. These senseless assaults which have included one on a 76 year old lady, have sent many to hospital and been responsible for one death. However this did not go far enough and people decided to up the ante and started a new game called Knockout the Jew!!! Again the majority of the media ignored it because well the Jews deserve it, right??? Well according to an ally of the new Mayor of New York City Laurie Cumbo, YES they do. She posted a message to her followers about the knockout game and said, “ Many African American/Caribbean residents expressed a genuine concern that the Jewish community continues to grow”…. Yes America has yet another elected official who will defend the indefensible.
However if you want a glimpse into the real progressive agenda – Mrs Cumbo gives it in the next paragraph where she states, “the accomplishments of the Jewish community triggers feelings of resentment, and a sense that Jewish success is not also their success”. To elected officials like this progressive, we are all a collective or to use a term from the commies – you are the masses and you are ENTITLED to what others have. You either get it from the government thru taxation or if you are still not happy, you can target people with the knockout game and just take it.
So what is the solution??? It is very easy to say we all need to be better people, to say America should return to the Judeo Christian values it was founded on, and to spend more time with our kids and the next generation explaining the great history of America and explaining right from wrong. However I will ask you one question and the answer will be different for each of you. God is missing, but what do you think of the performance of your Church and the Priest / preachers in your area? Are they leading by example and spreading the good news? Are they involved in your community making it a better place? Or are they like my Church and my religion who have become both lazy, arrogant and spend more time talking about problem than actually fixing them. Or is it something else entirely? I can only speak personally but my parish is a joke as we have little to no outreach programmes to get new people into the Church. We cast a very wide net when it comes to Baptisms, Communions, Confirmations and Weddings. My parish and my Church will give those BLESSED sacraments to ANYONE. Lastly it is very rare our priests give good sermons and they are usually socialist mush. Our church was very interested in praying and raising money for places like Syria but would never pray for Coptic Christians in Egypt nor Israel at any time especially with recent events. I believe the time for talking is over. Now is the time for action!!!! What do you think is missing in the world today and who needs to step up and find the solutions?
Links
George Washington Thanksgiving Proclamation – http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html
Abraham Lincoln Thanksgiving Proclamation – http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm
Theodore Roosevelt Thanksgiving Proclamation – https://www.google.ie/#q=theodore%20roosevelt%20thanksgiving%20proclamation
History of Thanksgiving and FDR – http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/thanksgiving.htm
Barack Obama Thanksgiving Proclamation – http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/26/presidential-proclamation-thanksgiving-day-2013
Black Friday Crime – http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2013/12/black-friday-2013-a-coast-to-coast-crime-roundup.html
Knockout game – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockout_%28violent_game%29
Knockout Killing – http://abcnews.go.com/US/76-year-brooklyn-woman-latest-knockout-game-assault/story?id=21058636
Laurie Cumbo Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/laurie.cumbo