penandpatience

WRITERS WORDS:” If you can’t see EYE to EYE, Try HEART to HEART” – Author Unknown

NOVEMBER 2020 MONTHLY MUSING

NOVEMBER – HARVEST TIME FOR THANKS & GIVING

November, the month America and other countries celebrate Thanksgiving traditions with family, friends and others unable to enjoy the fruitful fall harvest on their own.

Many of us recall early historical education and documentation on how a small ship, the Mayflower, left England carrying over 100 passengers seeking religious freedom and lured with the promise of new lands and prosperity.  Pilgrims, as they were commonly known, began the arduous chores of establishing a village at Plymouth. As we know, many did not survive that first brutal winter and survivors met the Abenaki Native Americans in the spring. History credits another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, in assisting the new settlers in cultivation and other survival skills. Additionally, the settlers forged an alliance with the Wampanoag local tribe that endured for more than fifty years.

And here we are, generations later, knowing controversy existed then as it does today. I quote excerpts from HISTORY-Traditions, Origins & Meaning, “Historians have noted Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores …Some Native Americans take issue with how the Thanksgiving story is presented to the American public and especially school children. In their view, the traditional narrative points a deceptively sunny portrait of relations between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, masking the long and bloody history of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers that resulted in the death of tens of thousands.”

I muse. Today, in the 21^st century, we continue to give Thanks for the fall harvest bounty and we continue to be a Giving society that shares our land’s bounty with others.  This year, 2020, despite losing thousands of Europeans and Americans to the invisible foe, Covid-19, history will document our disparities and lost lives, but also record the continuum of peoples’ spirits in sharing knowledge and bounty.

This writer is thankful for:

• After millions of years, the earth keeps spinning on its axis and no green, one-eyed aliens stop by believing they found a huge new source of breakfast cereal😊
• When I wake up in the mornings, if my name is not listed in the Obituaries, I know it’s going to be a great day😊
• Sir Lancelot, my Grand-dog Golden Retriever, who happily provides unconditional love and sits and stays at my command😊
• Our lands’ diverse and natural beauties: New England Fall Foliage, flower and vegetable gardens, and diverse National Parks preserved and, hopefully, protected for future generations😊

I share the words of Native American, Chief Dan George:

“May the stars carry your sadness away, may the flowers fill your heart with beauty, may hope forever wipe away your tears, and above all may silence make you strong.”

Dear READERS:  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Be Safe. Be Well.