'Give humble thanks for the blessings'
Inter Lake editorial
This year as we gather with loved ones to give thanks, we recognize that many among us - ourselves or perhaps our neighbors - have problems we did not have last year.
A downturn in the economy has given us new challenges, but there is no reason for gloom. In fact, there is plenty of reason to be thankful. We still live in an exceptional country, and still have bountiful opportunities to excel and prosper, partly thanks to the foresight of this nation's original settlers and partly thanks to our own creativity and perseverance.
It is worth pondering for a moment the first Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 after the nation had entered the Great Depression. In Roosevelt's words, we find both hope and wisdom that can easily be applied in 2008:
"I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do set aside and appoint Thursday, the thirtieth day of November 1933, to be a Day of Thanksgiving for all our people.
"May we on that day in our churches and in our homes give humble thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us during the year past by Almighty God.
"May we recall the courage of those who settled a wilderness, the vision of those who founded the Nation, the steadfastness of those who in every succeeding generation have fought to keep pure the ideal of equality of opportunity and hold clear the goal of mutual help in time of prosperity as in time of adversity.
"May we ask guidance in more surely learning the ancient truth that greed and selfishness and striving for undue riches can never bring lasting happiness or good to the individual or to his neighbors.
"May we be grateful for the passing of dark days; for the new spirit of dependence one on another; for the closer unity of all parts of our wide land; for the greater friendship between employers and those who toil; for a clearer knowledge by all nations that we seek no conquests and ask only honorable engagements by all peoples to respect the lands and rights of their neighbors; for the brighter day to which we can win through by seeking the help of God in a more unselfish striving for the common bettering of mankind.
"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
"Done at the City of Washington this twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-three and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fifty-eighth. -Franklin D. Roosevelt."
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Happy Thanksgiving!