I am thankful that no war has been fought within sight of my town since 1942. No army has occupied it in 146 years.
My wife did not die in childbirth. My daughter can choose her own future.
I have a good dentist and my water is safe.
I made it through over two decades in military service, intact.
I live in a fashion that for the vast majority of the world is so free and safe as to be almost unimaginable.
The least among my countrymen have more than the best of most. My blessings are almost shameful.
None of this happened by accident, and here I am; unworthy and with much work to do.
40 comments:
so, from the other side of the pond:
thanks for the D-Day and follow-on
thanks for the Marshall plan
thanks for deterring Soviets for 40 years
thanks for Voice of America and Radio Free Europe
thanks for the telephone, PC, cell phone, internet and all the numberless inventions of the american ingenuity
thanks for the Twain, Asimov, King
thanks for the Star Wars and ET, and while were at it:
thanks for the Trek - live long and prosper, America!
that was me - js-kit playing pranks on my ID again...
What ewok said.
Happy Thanksgiving to all True Americans.
You forgot Harpoon, Ewok :)
I'll give thanks for my familiy, for my wife who I cherish as my partner in life and best friend, for a great (still great, despite her woes) and for our young men and women around the world who stand guard against the darkness, protecting old civilians such as I from the barbarian hordes.
Be a little nicer to the other family members, don't react as quick to the barbs, compliment the host a little more on the Turkey, it really isn't too dry. Have some fun, enjoy some family, don't sweat the small stuff as much and have a great holiday! From my family to yours.
Thank you to all the folks in the service of our country!
A big Thank You on winning the lottery of birth.
Ewok - what was it like listening to VOA in the 80s & earlier? What was it like on the other side? I was always a bit fascinated by that after spending some time in East Berlin in the mid 80s (what a dreary place then). I also give thanks that people like you didn't need to stay behind a ferrous curtain and that the Trabby never became the official car of the West.
I am thankful for:
I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
II. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
III. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
IX. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
And I am also thankful for Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Jay, Hamilton, Henry, Paine, and the rest of the founding fathers and crafters of the most magnificent document every produced by Man's hand.
But I am most of all thankful to the men and women who, like their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers before them, left home and hearth when their country called them, to defend our freedoms and our way of life, at the often considerable risk, and loss, of their own.
Thomas Fleming had a great article in the Wall Street Journal about Thanksgiving, 1942. Worth the read, and a big hat tip to <span>LTCOL P</span>.
This Thanksgiving, it's just me and my son & youngest daughter. I'm thankful that we have a roof over our heads, that there is food on the table. That we live in a land of unimaginable freedom and opportunity, and have the ability to still change our government with ballots, rather than bullets.
We are Blessed, and we are thankful for those blessings.
oh, totally forgot!
Well, it was like seeking a station in a noise of shortwave ether - it was knowing how soviets "really" did in AFG...
Life on the other side was quite bleak, though not without its perks - basic goods like bread, milk etc were really cheap, OTOH meat was hard to get by. There were nurses in schools, organised vacation camps for children and youth, every worker could spend a holiday at sea or mountains - though Balthic and Carpathia were not Mediterranean or Alps, we were enjoying it. Sadly many parts of the country were ravaged ecologically by acid rain etc. I remeber sad sight of destroyed pine forests in Sudeten mountains in the south of Silesia. Church-organised religion lessons featured videos of classics like "Ben-hur" or "Moses and 10 commandements" :)
We Poles were as a bunch quite the "most entertaining barrack in the soviet camp", with various levels of anti-soviet unrest every 10 years or so (off top of my hat; 1956,70,80-81)
But still there lingered some kind of grudging respect for the Soviets for smashing the German war machine, and for leaving Poland in more homogenous ethnically and more defensible gegraphically shape. Army was respected universally, despite it being pillar of communist dominance - and Soviets quite not were sure about whether in case of the "big one" Poles would be likely to obediently attack westward or rebel en masse sensing occasion to break free. Myself got a draft cathegory "only in case of war" after telling comission that I'm color blind, and as likely to shoot red as white stars. They were all laughing for a while :) I was dreaming as a boy of becoming pilot, alas, eyesight problems made it impossible, still I've been tailing every piece of info I could gather and was eagerly glueing plastic models. My dad got to travel abroad as he was working in fisheries industry operating as far as the Falklands, Namibia or Kamchatka, and he got me some western aircraft-related publications, I was amazed on openess of the Western sources compared to the secrecy paranoia on our side.
I am thankful for my family who stands by me, supports me and gives me love. I am thankful for our servicemembers standing the watch even on holidays. I am thankful for my friends and the members of the front porch. Happy Thanksgiving gang!
Our neighbors to the north celebrate their Thanksgiving on our Columbus Day.
I hope to see the day when the 9th and 10th Amendmends come back to mean what they say....
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
To me, these few sentences say it all.
URR,
I am thankful for my Cousin Jack. He was with the 1st MarDiv as a HM3 in a little resevior in Korea having Turkey day in the monring thinking about the end of the war, while eating a turkey with the trimmings. Then by having to defend themselves for the rest of the next few months from the chicom.
Happy Thanksgiving
Excellent post, CDR. The best way to appreciate the blessing of being born into this most blessed of countries is to act in ways that are worthy of our ancestors.
The pies are just about to come out of the oven and then we'll pack the car and head off to have Thanksgiving at my sister's for a big family gathering. My blessings are so bountiful. I give thanks to God for all of them, and most especially for my wonderful family. Happy Thanksgiving to all on the porch! I hope that everyone will be with loved ones today.
And to you, GB!
Tim, your son is active duty, no? I'm so glad that he is able to be with you! Have a wonderful day up there in the frozen North! :)
...and may our Creator continue to bestow the blessings of Providence upon this land and our People, and this so that it may, with such Blessings, continue to serve as as an exemplar to peoples across our globe.
thanks to the guys that "swaped duty" with those whose family were at the head of the pier or traveled half a world for today.
and really really thanks to those who ate the meal in really greasy grimy work clothes and had to go back to work because the second freshwater pump was down and the ship could either run the scullery or the scuttlebuts, and or the showers but not both on one.
C
Among the many, many things I'm thankful for- this wonderful community that CDR Sal and the "front porch" have built here.
Blessing to you all.
Here, Here...
I would add Mason, Monroe and Sherman to your esteemed list! We stand on the shoulders of Giants...
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.”
― <span>Thomas Paine</span> “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”
― <span>Thomas Paine</span>
Mr T's Haircut,
If you are going to add Sherman, you HAVE to add Mister Peabody. And since this is a Navy-themed blog, Captain Peter "Wrongway" Peachfuzz deserves consideration.
:-P
URR,
If I had access to the Wayback machine" I would go back and UnF(@* a lot of the damage we have been given... oh yea...
Indeed. I would ask Sherman to set it for 1964, and stop the War on Poverty, which has enslaved more people and cost more money than all the wars in American history combined. Then I would do something about the 86 world series....
Well said, sir.
Thanks; and to you.
SAP,
Your Cousin Jack is an all-time hero. The hardship and suffering he endured is epic in the annals of American men at arms.
Peter Peachfuzz, pride of Frostbite Falls, MN!
Happy Thanksgiving, do a bunch of people I give thanks for!
Happy Thanksgiving to all...
And especially to those who are in Harm's Way about this world....
My prayers are with you.
And Ewok, we give thanks for people like you who remind us to keep our eye on the big picture and remind us of what he have and what we should share with others... namely the freedom to think, believe and innovate. At the rate we're going, someday Poland will be setting an example for us.
aah the owners manual for the United States of America
A little late but Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
<span>Whew. All that food. I feel like I weigh a ton. Now, just watchin' a little football.
I wonder how my Charlies are going to fit next weekend....</span>
Haven't had a chance to catch up on the posts until this afternoon. Beautiful words on the thankful part of the Thankgiving Holiday!
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