Thanksgiving Day

The United States, where this website is based, is celebrating Thanksgiving Day today. As celebrated here, it's a uniquely American Holiday with it's roots in the earliest days of the country. The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. President Washington proclaimed the first "Day of Thanks" way back in 1789, although it took until 1863 before it became an officially recognized national Holiday, when President Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Thanksgiving is also very much a Christian Holiday. Surprisingly, it has been largely left alone in the current crusade to remove any and all religious references from American society. Perhaps this is because, no matter your belief (or disbelief) in a particular religion, almost everyone can be thankful for something. We don't always know to whom (or what) we should be thankful, but we're thankful nonetheless. This is certainly the case in my life. There is so much I am thankful for, but I have problems with the concept that what I have in my life is due to anything other than my own efforts.

I'm thankful for the friends I've made through my rescue work.

I'm thankful for the "forever homes" who chose to adopt through rescue (any rescue).

I'm especially thankful for the foster homes, both past and present, without whom rescues (all rescues) would have a much harder time helping those in need.

I'm thankful that I've been able to find the strength in myself to continue onwards, despite how easy it would be to just give up in frustration.

I'm thankful for the support I receive, both moral and financial.

I'm thankful that I have had the strength to do without, so that those I'm responsible for would not have to. And, I'm thankful for those of you who have found the same strength in yourselves.

And so many other things, dating back to my earliest memories from childhood. I'm as thankful for the bad in my life, as I am the good. My life experiences have helped shape who I am today and the bad things I've experienced were valuable learning experiences. Unpleasant, to be sure, but just as responsible for where I am today as the good things I've experienced. My failures are as much a part of me as my successes.

So, as I said above, I don't know to whom, or what, I should be thankful. But I am thankful. And I hope that all of you, my beloved site visitors, can find as much to be thankful for in your own lives as I have found in my own.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Benny