The Wondrous Blessing of Giving Thanks

By Greg Wilson, Editor/Publisher, The Anderson Observer

With 28 days left in 2024, we take time to celebrate Thanksgiving, the uniquely American holiday set aside to evaluate those people and things which foster gratitude.

The Anderson Observer’s Gratitude Project offers some of your friends or neighbors talking about the transformative nature of gratitude. Some of the videos are available here.

The Holiday

The Thanksgiving holiday has been marked in various forms on this continent since the late 1500s. Abraham Lincoln finally made Thanksgiving an official holiday, to be celebrated on the third Thursday of November, while in the middle of the Civil War in 1863.

His proclamation both reflected the long-observed intent of those who had gone before him as he wrote the holiday would be a time to:

"Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."

The noble purpose of Thanksgiving Day being set aside is best shown by serving those who lack even the most basic of needs. We see it every day. See the Observer’s recent tribute to our community’s organizations which exhibit gratitude in action all year.

More Action, Working on Thanksgiving for a Reason: First Responders, and Others

But even though in some ways Thanksgiving Day still holds true to the traditions, such as gratitude and demonstrations of such thankfulness through helping our neighbors, many are on the job today.

It is difficult to properly express the gratitude of our first responders, our peace officers, paramedics, firefighters, detention officers, county jailers, or emergency medical service employees who are on the job to serve and protect our community every day, including holidays. This also includes everyone who keeps our electrical and water systems running so the rest of us can celebrate.

Many of these men and women who quietly serve or stand on guard waiting to serve our community deserve triple wages for their holiday work. Not only are they away from family, but often put in dangerous situations to give the rest of us the peace of mind that help is a phone call away if there is an emergency. Thank them for their service, especially expressing appreciation for the holiday efforts, when you see them in public. Tip generously where allowed and lavish kindness everywhere.

Working on Thanksgiving for No Good Reason: Retail Workers

Over the past decade, a rising tide of voices has succeeded in convincing many of the largest retailers to shut down on Thanksgiving Day.

Most of the largest retailers, including Target, Walmart and Best Buy, have responded to the cry of retail workers asking for a respite for the upcoming rush by closing and allowing workers to spend the day with family and friends.

This is both welcome and laudable, and long overdue.

But some, including Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Burger King, Arby’s and Popeye’s have ignored the holiday and will open with business-as-usual Thanksgiving Day.

Their workers are being asked to clock in and miss the holiday.

Americans who work retail, and already face growing pressure of long hours and generally below-average wages, are now being asked to forfeit a rare holiday set aside for family and gratitude.

One way to help end this practice is to refuse to shop on Thanksgiving Day. If these stores see zero traffic, some may rethink their Scrooge-like practice.

It’s the season to spread the message that Thanksgiving is not just another day to feed the cash register.

And on Friday, while still drowsy from turkey and gravy, we have the opportunity to carry out the spirit with patience and good will leading into the holiday shopping rush by maintaining a grateful heart towards those working in the world so full of bright, shiny objects vying for attention and wallets.

Again, be patient and kind. Those who have worked retail in the holidays will testify the level of stress already kicked in by the sheer number of shoppers packing stores, is made more difficult by short-tempered, angry folks who made their days much more difficult.

Be mindful that the most common reason for giving a holiday gift is to express some form of compassion toward the one receiving the present. But often shopping degrades into buying on auto-pilot, with little thought other than checking a name off a list or grabbing a dubious item because it is “on sale.”

Needs No Wrapping

It can take effort in the holiday rush is our sense of gratitude - a gift that needs no wrapping paper, ribbon or space under the Christmas tree. Research is conclusive that those who approach life with a sense of gratitude have fewer mental and physical problems, live longer, exhibit less stress, have a stronger immune system, and even handle loss far better than those who live without the recognition that they do indeed have a lot for which to be grateful.

So how does a person find that place, a place where gratitude finds a regular place in our lives, especially during the holidays?

The best place to start, according to more than one study, is to verbally acknowledge those things for which you are thankful every day. Not just during the holiday season.

Those in this study who wrote down a daily gratitude list for one full year expressed the experience profound change in their lives. Stories of overcoming depression, lowered blood pressure, and even healing of relationships were common among those who finished the year-long gratitude list project.

So, make your first holiday gift this year one for yourself. Commit to a daily practice of gratitude, verbal or written for the next 365 days. You won't be sorry.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “Thanks are the highest form of thought... gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

And that is my Thanksgiving wish to all this season as you give thanks today, that you will experience happiness doubled by wonder.