A Secular Thanksgiving

I wish all of you could take a seat at my family’s Thanksgiving table. On the surface you’ll notice nothing particularly different from any other holiday table. There will be plenty of food—traditional foods, like: turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, smashed potatoes, dressing, corn, beans, muffins, bread, butter, beer, wine, and soft drinks. There will be family and extended family from both in and out of town seated around the table this year; there will be more people than there are chairs, so we may even have to set up a “kids table.” There will be NFL football on TV, live music on the front porch, playing catch and family board games. There will be pecan pie, and pumpkin pie, and whip cream, and vanilla ice cream. There will be laughter and gluttony, groaning and belly rubbing, drinking and afternoon naps, satisfaction and “thanks” giving.

Once the people I love are all seated around my table, I will hold hands with whoever is sitting on either side of me. Everybody else around the table will do the same. I will not bow my head. I will look at my brothers when I thank them for making the trip up to Columbia so that we could share the holiday. They will look at me and thank me for the welcome and the meal. I will thank my father-in-law for the financial support he has lent us this year. Without his help and the help of my mother and my sister L, my family would not be celebrating this year in this home. I will thank my mother and my sister and my brother, M, for the airfare he buys me with his Frequent Flier miles. I will thank my sons, Z and D, for being excellent sons, students, and big brothers. I will thank my daughter, A, for bringing so much energy and laughter into my home and my life [even if Z and D don’t appreciate it!]…how she reminds me of me. I will try to make a funny face for my twin babies, E and K. I hope I can make them laugh. I selfishly look forward to seeing their smiling faces. I will turn to my wife, L, and I will thank her for her love and support, for all of her hard work on the job and in raising our children. I will thank her for understanding my short-comings as a husband, and I will assure her that I have no regrets.

Everybody sitting at my Thanksgiving table will do the same, thanking the people who complete their lives. In this way my children will learn that anything that they might enjoy in this life was produced by somebody, if not by themselves. They will be able to identify the quality of their own contribution, determine for themselves balance and realize for themselves the morality of trade. They will feel the pleasure of being recognized and thanked and the pleasure of recognizing others and thanking them honestly and openly.

I see no point in extending my thanks to mythical beings that produced none of the abundance my family enjoys. What we have, we work for in the freest country on Earth. The help my family received this year was made possible not by some omniscient God, but rather, by people I know who worked for it and who were generous enough to help us in our time of need.

For a citizen of the United States of America to fail to identify the cause of America's success is “sin.” We should thank the Framers! Uncompromised respect for the rights of each individual to live his life in pursuit of his own happiness is the reason we are great.

I will not forget to thank the United States’ armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence services for the important and dangerous work they do.

I will thank the people who deserve my thanks. I will thank the people with whom I share life here on Earth. I will thank the people I love for reasons. I will thank them with a smile for their smiles. I will thank them with tears for their tears. They are the source of my strength, my cause. They are the people to whom I owe much thanks.