Thanksgiving, 2017

What a tumultuous year it has been.  We have a rogue president who does not keep his oath to uphold the Constitution.  The prime example is that he is incensed to be told that he cannot control the Justice Department's decisions about whom to investigate or prosecute.  In addition, he is obsessed with destroying everything that Barack Obama did as president.   And he has utterly changed our standing in the world from respected leadership to cartoonish derision.

Major destructions are being carried out -- from our standing in the world, to efforts to protect the environment for the future, to backward trends in law enforcement practices, civil rights and voter rights;  and he is well on the way to remaking the federal judiciary with right-wing zealots.

OK.  It's a dark time.   But let's put it aside for today.   Even if we don't feel there is much to be thankful for, we do have untold advantages that the majority of the people in the world do not have.   And, as bad as he is, the president has not yet gotten us into a war with North Korea.

So let's put those worries aside for a day.    It wasn't proclaimed as Thanksgiving Day until President Abraham Lincoln so decreed it a national holiday just before the war broke out.   But apparently the Mayflower settlers in New England did have a good harvest and shared it with the Native Americans living nearby, just as we were taught in elementary school.

Here's an interesting factoid to impress your relatives around the dinner table.   How did our national feast bird get its English name?   It has nothing to do with the nation of Turkey.   According to the AJC's "Facts" column, Christopher Columbus thought he had found a route to India, so that's where he thought at first he had landed.   When he saw these big birds with the fan shaped tails, he called them "tuka," which is the Indian word for "peacock" and which apparently evolved into "turkey."  How the Italian Columbus knew the Hindi language is not explained.   Perhaps since that's where he thought he was going, he took a crash course.   But Rosetta Stone and Babbel.com in the 15th century???  Take this story with a few grains of sodium chloride.

Enjoy a day of food and family and relaxation.

Ralph