Thanksgiving: A Mental Health Holiday

Those who serve in intense occupations, such as counselors and hospice caregivers, are commonly given “mental health days.” These are days off given in order to recharge psychic and emotional batteries. Thanksgiving 2015 is a wonderful opportunity for a much needed national “mental health holiday.” The cumulative stress of regular Islamic terrorist attacks, a shaky economy and an interminable presidential election creates an acute need for a day off to stop and reflect on the good.

Of course, there are those who can never let a chance go by to rain on someone’s parade, even the Thanksgiving Day Parade. In perpetually rainy Seattle, a school district staff was sent a letter advising them that Thanksgiving could be a problem. Native American students might be troubled. It referred them to a website were the myths of Thanksgiving were debunked. Among them was the myth number 11- Thanksgiving is a happy time. According to the letter, Thanksgiving is a “time of mourning” for many Native American people and a “reminder of 500 years of betrayal.” Maybe it’s just me, but I have never remembered meeting a Native American angry about Thanksgiving.

No one is going to argue that there were not great wrongs done to American Indians. But, of all the days to dredge up those wrongs, Thanksgiving is not that day. In fact, it is a bright spot in the history of those troubled relations, and the Native Americans are the ones who clearly emerge as the heroes. If not for their help, Plymouth Plantation would have never survived.

After surviving in a harsh and unforgiving New England winter, the Pilgrims needed a mental health holiday. They determined to give thanks to God for preserving them alive, even though they were only a remnant of the original settlers, and for providing a harvest. The Pilgrims knew their survival was only possible because the kindness of the Indians. The Pilgrims were good Christians and believed that God, in His wise providence, used the Indians to save their lives. For that the Pilgrims gave humble thanks! What can be more wholesome than that?

The first Thanksgiving is not a time for grieving! It is a wonderful opportunity to teach a valuable lesson. When we look up to God and humbly give thanks to Him for all our blessings and especially for each other, it is then that we see each other aright. A transcendent thankfulness was the context for Native Americans and the Pilgrims to coexist in harmony and mutual respect. That harmony lasted for years.

The obvious lesson of Thanksgiving is all but lost on people with ideological axes to grind. Political correctness must march relentlessly on. The anti-American fringe seeks to exploit any occasion in order induce another round of national self-loathing. Radicals in public education are determined to rob American children of any sense of patriotism. This is simply dangerous!

Just a few years ago the PC police had to intervene again! Arrogant America was poised to “celebrate” the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Colony. But this was too much! How dare we “celebrate an invasion?” This great occasion of national historical significance could not be held without the now customary self-flagellation.

If you are fond of political correctness, then here are a few PC Thanksgiving tips. This year, after you gather together with family and friends, make sure you curse those rotten Christian Pilgrims. This is bound to make you feel morally enlightened and intellectually superior. Then congratulate yourself that you are not bound by silly, antiquated Christian ideas of Providence and saving grace, and its awkward corollaries, humility and gratitude. After all, feeling good about feeling bad is what a politically correct Thanksgiving is all about.

For the politically incorrect, I recommend an old fashioned Pilgrim Thanksgiving, one where sincere gratitude to God is openly expressed and thankfulness for each other is unashamedly demonstrated. This is the spirit of the first Thanksgiving. In looking up to God in humility and thanking him for every earthly and spiritual blessing, and especially for family and friends, there you will find a real mental health holiday!