On great holidays like Thanksgiving I think it’s a good time to go back to the wisdom that has come down to us from our ancestors and, perhaps, to turn to the wisdom of other traditions as well. Here are a few resources for such reflections. I’m jumping the gun a little so you can take a look at some of these before Thanksgiving. Incorporate them into your own celebration if you’d like.

If you have any Thanksgiving resources of your own to suggest, please include them in the comments section or email me and I’ll incorporate them into the post.

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Psalm 136
An Iroquois Thanksgiving Prayer
Meister Eckhart on giving thanks
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation
Tecumseh on giving thanks
Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863
Thanksgiving: a native American view
An American Muslim reflects on Thanksgiving
A little grace from Ralph Waldo Emerson
Chesterton on gratitude

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Psalm 136 (King James version)

1: O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2: O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
3: O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
4: To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
5: To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
6: To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
7: To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:
8: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:
9: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.
10: To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:
11: And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:
12: With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.
13: To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:
14: And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:
15: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.
16: To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.
17: To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
18: And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
19: Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever:
20: And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:
21: And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:
22: Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.
23: Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:
24: And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.
25: Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
26: O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.

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A THANKSGIVING PRAYER FROM THE IROQUOIS (SENECA) PEOPLE

Gwa! Gwa! Gwa! Now the time has come! Hear us, Lord of the Sky! We are here to speak the truth, for you do not hear lies, We are your children, Lord of the Sky.

Now begins the Gayant’ gogwus This sacred fire and sacred tobacco And through this smoke We offer our prayers We are your children, Lord of the Sky.

Now in the beginning of all things You provided that we inherit your creation You said: I shall make the earth on which people shall live And they shall look to the earth as their mother And they shall say, “It is she who supports us.” You said that we should always be thankful For our earth and for each other So it is that we are gathered here We are your children, Lord of the Sky.

Now again the smoke rises And again we offer prayers You said that food should be placed beside us And it should be ours in exchange for our labor. You thought that ours should be a world where green grass of many kinds should grow You said that some should be medicines And that one should be Ona’o the sacred food, our sister corn You gave to her two clinging sisters beautiful Oa’geta, our sister beans and bountiful Nyo’sowane, our sister squash The three sacred sisters; they who sustain us.

This is what you thought, Lord of the Sky. Thus did you think to provide for us And you ordered that when the warm season comes, That we should see the return of life And remember you, and be thankful, and gather here by the sacred fire. So now again the smoke arises We the people offer our prayers We speak to you through the rising smoke We are thankful, Lord of the Sky.

Liberally translated by Chuck Larsen, Seneca

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Meister Eckhart on giving thanks

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – 1327/8)

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The First Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1676

“The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgements he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:

The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God’s Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.”

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Tecumseh on giving thanks

“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.”

Tecumseh (1768-1813)

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Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; 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 previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; 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 enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted’ for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

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Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

I strongly recommend that you read the whole thing. I find it very relevant these days.

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Thanksgiving: A Native American View

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An American Muslim reflects on Thanksgiving

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A little grace from Ralph Waldo Emerson

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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G. K. Chesterton on gratitude

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

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As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.
Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

I don’t very often add two new entries to my blogroll in a single week. But when I found myself checking obsessively to see if Marc Schulman, the editor-in-chief of American Future, had posted anything new it was clear to me that he deserved a spot on the old blogroll.

His ongoing coverage of the unfolding situation in Iran has been simply stellar and he’s sparked a good number of inter-blog discussions. Check out American Future.

It’s never a dull moment here in the Windy City:

November 22, 2004 — Three emu were spotted roaming the northern suburbs. One was found in a forest preserve near the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Officials do not know where the emu came from

Beep beep! Where is the Acme Company when you need it? There’s a video clip at the link.

This week’s Carnival of the Liberated, a selection of some of the best posts of the week by Iraqi bloggers, is up at Dean’s World.

I’d been saving this interesting little chart for a more in-depth post on the Red State/Blue State thing but I’m posting it now to support a comment I made to this post on Q&O Blog. Click on the image to get a sizeable one. The post raises some conjectures on the sources of the advantageous position that the Red States (as a group) have in terms of federal expenditures per tax dollar, speculating that:

1. The Red states receive the lion’s share of federal retirement benefits.
2. There are more military bases in Red states
3. Higher per capita incomes in the Blue states

The chart appears to contradict the first claim.

There are quite a few military bases in Blue states: check here for Navy, here for Army, here for Air Force. Illinois has a major naval training facility. New York has a number of substantial army bases not to mention West Point. And, of course, California is military base central.

My own impression is that high taxable incomes in the Blue States are the most important component of the Red State/Blue State tax ROI.

The source document is here (>1MB).

This article from Ralph Peters brought tears to my eyes:

LAST week, I had an inspiring conversation with a Muslim-American. An immigrant from Pakistan, he hadn’t yet been granted citizenship, but he had more faith in America than our native-born elite does.

“I write to my brothers and sisters,” he said, “And I tell them that they do not know true Islam. If you want to see true Islam, you must come to America.”

Hat tip: Outside the Beltway

Read the whole thing.

The Kingdom of God for Christians and the Promised Land for Jews and True Islam for Muslims in the only country in the Western world that hasn’t had an established church in almost two hundred years. O brave new world that has such people in it!

media girl has a very good post or rant, as she calls it, on What’s Wrong With the Democrats?. She’s getting pretty frustrated with the hemming and hawing of Democratic Party front-men on the direction of the party after the election on the 3^rd:

Why are the Dems so wimpy? Today, “equal rights for all” is not ever discussed as the moral issue it is. Graft in government is not considered a moral question. In our current political climate, lying is considered “spin” and the press signs off on it. Educating our children is not considered a moral issue. Executing innocent people is not considered a moral issue. Killing 100,000 people in Iraq is not considered a moral issue. Economic justice and relief for the growing poor population in this country is not considered a moral issue. Preserving the fiscal integrity of our government is not considered a moral issue. Preserving liberty in our own land is not considered a moral issue. None of these things are considered moral issues. No, what passes for morality today is intolerance, greed, bigotry, divisiveness—all expressed in loud voices of outraged victims.

I think there are a number of reasons for this. The first is that public morality—the actions of some faceless bureaucrat in a nameless office—is no substitute for personal morality—treating people with respect and concern in your daily life. We must have both.

The second reason is that too many of the disparate interest groups that form the backbone of today’s Democratic Party have lost their moorings. When the NOW lined up behind Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal it suggested that their agenda had ceased being better lives and decent treatment for women in society and the workplace and had become unwavering support for Democrat politicians. Now, as Q&O Blog points out, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in their failure to respond appropriately to the recent racist treatment of Condoleezza Rice by the leftist press, seems to be less about advancing colored people than about advancing the careers of sufficiently left-wing politicians:

As a matter of fact, I’m a bit astonished as well. Where is the NAACP on this? Where is Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH? I thought these organizations existed to stamp out the very sort of racist bigotry that is being used against Rice by the left.

Instead we are treated to the sound of crickets.

Apparently there’s a litmus test one has to pass before they can count on the NAACP or Rainbow/PUSH’s support.

You can’t just be the right color, you have to be of the right ideology. Otherwise, or so it seems, racism just isn’t that big of a deal to them.

When you look out and see that the Party’s most faithful union support is the public employees’ unions you begin to wonder if the Democratic Party is the party of public morality or the party of public employment.

Steve Antler of Econopundit, one of my daily reads, has a typically excellent post on the falling dollar and the role of China in all of this:

The problem over the long term is not what Alan Greenspan will or won’t do to slow or not slow the dollar’s decline. The problem is one major trading partner (1) knows how to make things we want much more cheaply than we can, and (2) saves too much and spends too little.

The Peoples Republic of China is an almost unimaginably huge market. All it would take could be a tiny fraction of a decimal point of her awesomely-low MPC to completely swamp our capacity to produce for her market.

Now let’s think about this for a moment. Hmmmm. What kind of autos do we make? Might some of these actually be more attractive to Chinese managers, professionals, and highly skilled workers than would be, say, Japanese autos? Yes? No? Maybe?

What I think Steve is missing (and what many of the experts miss) is that although China is a very large market when measured in dollars, dollar-volume does not a market make. A market requires the ability to make purchasing decisions and the number of people who are making such decisions in China is very, very small. I’ve believed for thirty years that trade with China was actually quite risky and now our chickens may be coming home to roost.