Guy Ciarrocchi: Why Americans are called to give thanks
Unity of purpose. Humility before God. Gratitude for what we have been given.
Giving thanks.
We are called to give thanks for our great, blessed, albeit imperfect nation. I join Washington, Lincoln, and others in giving my thanks to God.
No, this isn’t a history lesson. Nor is my purpose to ask you to ignore the realities of American society today. But, yes, it is a call to remember why we celebrate. And it is a call to remind us that not even Washington or Lincoln believed that our nation or Americans were perfect, but rather that we had done much good and, while more work was needed, we should pause to recognize the unique blessings given to America, and Americans.
As we gather this Thanksgiving, at a moment in time unique to our history, despite the divisive elections, culture battles and so many trying so hard to pull us apart and tear down the pillars that uphold our nation, there is all the more reason for us to pause and think why we are called as Americans to give thanks. To strengthen those pillars. And to ask for blessings to pull us together.
Proclaiming the first “day of thanksgiving,” Washington explained why Americans ought to be thankful: “That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country…for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness.”
The people of these new United States had gone through a revolutionary war and were already living with their second constitution enacted in less than a decade. Yet, Washington — a figure larger than life — urged his fellow citizens to be thankful and to offer their gratitude. Surprising to us in 2024, Washington writes of the nation’s “tranquility” and their “plenty” — and all they had.
While many of Washington’s successors issued similar proclamations, it was not until our sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln, that the day became a national holiday. A man of so many gifts and talents calling us to our better angels, wrote: “…with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens…[to] observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens…with humble penitence…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.”
Two Presidents, nearly a century apart. Common themes: gratitude, humility, unity. Three things that are all too often lacking today.
Thanksgiving is a day that calls us to pause, reflect, and recall that we are all Americans. And, yes, this is very different from being French, Mexican or British. America was built on ideals, a promise, and a spirit.
We are still a relatively new nation that has achieved so much and has been blessed with so much. We are a nation with unique powers and “plenty,” that all too often takes the plenty for granted, or misses these gifts. We are a nation of enormous power and, with that, responsibility.
Washington and Lincoln did not create this holiday to “spike the football” or to thump our chests. They did not create it to celebrate our perfection. They did not create it ignorant of the challenges in front of them — Lincoln was presiding over a nation literally in a civil war!
They called us to our better angels. Knowing — even in 1789, and again in 1863 — that this nation had been given so much. Our laws, our customs, and our spirit were gifts that many had used to do so much good, so we should pause and celebrate.
Most of my relatives did not come to this nation until the 20th century. The same is true for my wife. They came here to start anew in this nation — this blessed, albeit imperfect, nation. They came to be part of the American experience. To not only share in the blessings, but to actively embrace it and share it and to continue those blessings.
Our first president — who had friends and family who died in battle, from disease and even starvation on the battlefield — called us to give thanks to God for the opportunity given.
Our sixteenth president felt so strongly in that Washingtonian spirit that he wanted his successors and the generations that followed to pause to give thanks for the good done and to ask for blessings to finish the work that needed to still be done. He wrote this against the backdrop of the scourge of slavery and the bloodshed of brother versus brother.
They knew the blessings and the opportunities before us.
We, as Americans, are called to give thanks.
Guy Ciarrocchi is the “head chef” for his Thanksgiving dinner and Senior Fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation. He writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.
“Two Presidents, nearly a century apart. Common themes: gratitude, humility, unity. Three things that are all too often lacking today.” – Mr. Ciarrocchi is right these three things are lacking, in our 45th President. A President who has no faith and manipulates others who do. A President who has has engaged in bullying and threats, instead of unity. A President instead of showing humility needs to be the center of attention, at all costs no matter who gets hurt. A President who instead of showing gratitude is going to engage in revenge on people he imagines are enemies.
Happy Thanksgiving, Judah. My God – give it a rest you sad, sad person. Another common theme from both presidents: Give thanks to God. I guess that really sets you off. Here’s your ‘party of unity’ mantra: “Garbage, deplorables, fascists, terrorists”, and their attack on Christians, and their weaponization of the justice department against a duly elected president (as proven by these cases evaporating). Spare us from your psychobabble. This country has spoken loud and clear as to the direction in which we want to go. AND I AM THANKFUL.
What attacks on Christians?
The DOJ was prosecuting people who broke the law, like on January 6th.
I have no problems with giving thanks to God. I have a problem with people not understanding the separation of Church and State.
“Garbage, deplorables, fascists, terrorists”” – Grab them by the pussy, Tony Hinchcliffe, Jews are disloyal if they don’t vote Republican.
How has Trump demonstrated “gratitude, humility, unity”?
Moronic psychobabble. They tried to cancel him, obstruct him, impeach him, jail him, assassinate him (twice), and he still won. Harris burned through over a billion dollars in 3 months and got trounced. Swing state SHUTOUT. Electoral landslide. Popular vote; Red senate, House and Supreme Court. The people have spoken. They’ve seen right through the lies, incompetence, and treachery of the left, and have given Trump and the republicans a mandate. Your hollow excuses are about to be proven wrong as the truth will be exposed. Time to clean house and put the world back in order with America first.
When you spend $1,092,578,546 to get elected you should ask yourself, what happens when everyone calls in their markers once he gets elected?
” and their attack on Christians” – Since you you made this statement does that also make it “moronic psychobabble”?
Give it a rest. Be thankful for what you have. The litany of resentment is petty.
To Judah: The same thing that happens to democrat donors when they win. The bigger question is what dos you do when you blow over a billion dollars of donor money and LOSE. What’s your point?
I am thankful for what I have. I am also concerned about what happens when Trump’s billionaire buddies become Cabinet Secretaries.
As you should be. There’s a reckoning coming. I also see that you have a short memory of when I schooled your before on the government’s attacks on christian faith and religion, and it doesn’t have anything to do with separation. And on his way out, Biden awards the Medal of Freedom to a mass murderer of over 3 million unborn children, and pardons his convicted criminal son. No one is above the law, right Joe?
“I schooled your before on the government’s attacks on christian faith and religion, and it doesn’t have anything to do with separation.” – Where did you school me in this thread? I have yet to see any proof on attacks on Christians.
Yes Biden did pardon his son. Trump pardoned Jared Kushner’s father, who was convicted of witness tampering, tax fraud, and illegal political contributions. Four years later he appointed Charles Kushner the Ambassador to France, all of which sounds like a payoff for a bribe.
There’s a reckoning coming. – In what form?
For months Biden said he would not. “No one is above the law”. He lied on purpose. Not the same as Trump pardoning Kushner.
The reckoning will be securing both borders, deporting criminal illegals, cleaning out the deep state swamp by prosecuting and firing , eliminating the bloated political appointee bureaucracy departments, eliminate DEI hires and change the direction of the country away from woke initiatives. Npw I just answered your question. Answer this: Why do you think Kamala lost?
Trump pardoned a immediate family member and then made that convicted felon the Ambassador to France. A perfect example of the deep state at work and Trump making the swamp greater again. Before Trump there was no deep state, just another lie told to get votes.
“eliminating the bloated political appointee bureaucracy departments” – Trump is going to replace them with his own localists, thus making the political appointee bureaucracy great again.
DEI hires?? Just because someone is not white does not make them a DEI hire.