Mayor’s Blog

Mayor’s Blog | Thanksgiving | Nov. 24, 2022

Mayor Steve Martin

It’s Thanksgiving again. Time for turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce and stuffing. Time to usher in the new holiday season. Time to join hands around the family table and purposefully remind ourselves how much we really have to be thankful for.

In spite of colorful stories of Pilgrims and native Americans sitting down to share the original Thanksgiving, it wasn’t until the Father of our country, George Washington, urged the nation to reflect upon the newly-minted liberties emerging from the Revolutionary War and the establishment of  the Republic that the modern tradition experienced its genesis.

In President Washington’s Thanksgiving Address he said “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Another famous president, Abraham Lincoln, called upon a nation bloodied in a vast civil war to use the occasion to bring peace and healing to the the American people. In his address he said “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, …to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving… And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him …, 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 Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

It wasn’t until when yet another famous leader, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed legislation in 1941 declaring the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day that the modern tradition was officially canonized.

As we prepare for the annual celebration this year, I hope we all meditate on the healing power of Thanksgiving. As we focus on our neighbors, our city, and our country, we can all feel deep thankfulness for the gifts of family and friends enjoyed in the setting of our great nation. And, perhaps, we will carry this thankfulness forward into the holiday season and beyond. Perhaps, as we grasp this thankfulness, we will release our grip on anger, outrage, and divisiveness.

At least that is my hope for myself and my family. I hope it will be likewise with you and yours.

Happy Thanksgiving, and remember to stay informed, stay involved, and stay strong Paso Robles.