To Give Thanks



Thursday’s editorial gives thanks for another year of blessings here on the Carolina coast:

So deeply rooted in our nation’s founding, our Thanksgiving tradition has become almost inseparable from the popular stories that surround it.

The Pilgrims and their devotion to God, the hardships they suffered as they bore their work so bravely, their assistance from this country’s natives and the unity they all celebrated together – each of these images have at various times lent themselves perfectly to our annual autumnal moment of self-reflection.

Such powerful symbols, however, risk overtaking the core of what they symbolize, in this case the deeply essential act of pausing to give thanks. In that spirit, this year we will give our history a rest and focus instead on the present, and perhaps in bypassing the tradition bring ourselves closer to its original intent.

Our country is now 18 months beyond the depth of a chasm. Only last spring, our previously-soaring economy was a wounded vessel whose every instrument pointed to disaster, and many American generations were experiencing real economic anxiety or trauma for the first time in their lives. None of us could see bottom; yet after only a few months we found it, and while it made for a frightening fall, it ultimately was not so far down. National and local institutions stopped collapsing in such terrifying succession, and our country began its slow, painful recovery.

Yes, too many people on the Grand Strand are still out of work. We are still far beneath the artificial heights we so recently attained.

Especially for those still unemployed, whose fields seemingly no longer exist, whose hopes of happiness and security in old age are seemingly crushed under houses now worth less than the stacks of paper their deeds are written upon, the recovery has been far too slow, maddeningly slow, infuriatingly hobbled by the political aspirations of the shortsighted – but our economy is now in its fifth-consecutive quarter of growth.

Americans will be buying their children presents again this Christmas in numbers roughly equal to last year. And regardless of whom you credit or blame, you must admit that there was a time not too long ago when not even this present level of prosperity seemed a certain prospect. For that, let us be thankful.

More broadly, while our young men and women continue to risk their lives overseas, their valor, remarkable sense of duty and tragic sacrifices over the past year have greatly contributed to what statesman Wilbur Cross on a Thanksgiving more than 60 years ago gratefully deemed “the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land.” Even as conflict stirs restlessly abroad, our nation has enjoyed relative safety within its borders of late, and for that, we ought surely be thankful.

Man-made disaster literally tarred our neighbors on the Gulf Coast, yet hurricane after massive hurricane spun off harmlessly to dissipate in the cold North Atlantic, leaving our coast unscathed yet another year.

We learned last year that hurricanes are not the only natural forces we ought fear, yet even with fewer firefighters than our state has had before, our combustible Carolina Bays were spared another conflagration.

A year without large-scale calamity: when we are spared that which we could not prevent, we have no choice but to be thankful.

What we do have is the Carolina coast, with beaches and marshes, golf greens and hotels, restaurants and entertainers that millions travel from across the world to visit every year. We have schools that are the envy of the rest of our state, a proud and quickly growing university and vibrant technical college, strong young athletes making their mark in new arenas every year, and medical institutions that continue visible improvement yearly. Our state has an energetic new leader presenting a fresh face to the country, just as our coast has its own bold new leader in Congress. For those of us committed to openness in government as a hallmark of democracy, a recent trend toward transparency thankfully shows no signs of going out fashion.

Tomorrow, just as we did yesterday, we will all find a thousand details within each of these blessings to question, with opinions to air and points to dispute. But for today, we will simply and happily be thankful.

 

Such powerful symbols, however, risk overtaking the core of what they symbolize, in this case the deeply essential act of pausing to give thanks. In that spirit, this year we will give our history a rest and focus instead on the present, and perhaps in bypassing the tradition bring ourselves closer to its original intent.

Our country is now 18 months beyond the depth of a chasm. Only last spring, our previously-soaring economy was a wounded vessel whose every instrument pointed to disaster, and many American generations were experiencing real economic anxiety or trauma for the first time in their lives. None of us could see bottom; yet after only a few months we found it, and while it made for a frightening fall, it ultimately was not so far down. National and local institutions stopped collapsing in such terrifying succession, and our country began its slow, painful recovery.

Yes, too many people on the Grand Strand are still out of work. We are still far beneath the artificial heights we so recently attained.

Especially for those still unemployed, whose fields seemingly no longer exist, whose hopes of happiness and security in old age are seemingly crushed under houses now worth less than the stacks of paper their deeds are written upon, the recovery has been far too slow, maddeningly slow, infuriatingly hobbled by the political aspirations of the shortsighted – but our economy is now in its fifth-consecutive quarter of growth.

Americans will be buying their children presents again this Christmas in numbers roughly equal to last year. And regardless of whom you credit or blame, you must admit that there was a time not too long ago when not even this present level of prosperity seemed a certain prospect. For that, let us be thankful.

More broadly, while our young men and women continue to risk their lives overseas, their valor, remarkable sense of duty and tragic sacrifices over the past year have greatly contributed to what statesman Wilbur Cross on a Thanksgiving more than 60 years ago gratefully deemed “the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land.” Even as conflict stirs restlessly abroad, our nation has enjoyed relative safety within its borders of late, and for that, we ought surely be thankful.

Man-made disaster literally tarred our neighbors on the Gulf Coast, yet hurricane after massive hurricane spun off harmlessly to dissipate in the cold North Atlantic, leaving our coast unscathed yet another year.

We learned last year that hurricanes are not the only natural forces we ought fear, yet even with fewer firefighters than our state has had before, our combustible Carolina Bays were spared another conflagration.

A year without large-scale calamity: when we are spared that which we could not prevent, we have no choice but to be thankful.

What we do have is the Carolina coast, with beaches and marshes, golf greens and hotels, restaurants and entertainers that millions travel from across the world to visit every year. We have schools that are the envy of the rest of our state, a proud and quickly growing university and vibrant technical college, strong young athletes making their mark in new arenas every year, and medical institutions that continue visible improvement yearly. Our state has an energetic new leader presenting a fresh face to the country, just as our coast has its own bold new leader in Congress. For those of us committed to openness in government as a hallmark of democracy, a recent trend toward transparency thankfully shows no signs of going out fashion.

Tomorrow, just as we did yesterday, we will all find a thousand details within each of these blessings to question, with opinions to air and points to dispute. But for today, we will simply and happily be thankful.