Thanking God for what we are

This is the time of year when we are reminded to be thankful for all that we have. Being thankful is a good exercise. It takes our mind off those advertiser assaults on the psyche demanding that we feel inadequate because we haven’t hocked our firstborn and purchased their latest revolutionary whatsit, thus leaving us crippled human beings who will never achieve happiness or fulfillment.

But thankfulness is less than half the Thanksgiving story. The Pilgrims, our ancestors who initiated the holiday, were indeed thankful for the basics: They had survived a difficult year. And their response was to give thanks – for they were confident it was God who had brought them through the ordeal. Being thankful without giving thanks leaves us incomplete.

We are dead wrong, however, to think our Pilgrim ancestors were impoverished because they lacked the modern gadgets and conveniences we rely on to get us out of bed in the morning and keep us running throughout the day. President Calvin Coolidge said of our Pilgrim ancestors:

“Measured by the standards of men of their time, [the Pilgrims] were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came – rejected, despised – an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy, destined to free mankind.”

Not a bad legacy for a bunch of right-wing, religious fanatics, wouldn’t you say?

So it’s fine to be thankful for what we have. It’s even better to give thanks to God for those things. Yet the real key to Thanksgiving is to transcend the possessions we have and don’t have – and to be thankful for who and what we are – both individually and as a nation. As odd as it may seem, a big part of what we are is what we are not.

As I look back over the year, the news that we report and comment upon here at WorldNetDaily often fits into one of these two buckets – what we are, and what we are not. Here are some of the events that come to mind:

I give thanks that we live in a Christian society and not an Islamic society. One of the reasons is that in 2002 in Pakistan, a Muslim country, the Independent Human Rights Commission reported that 460 Pakistani women were the victims of honor killings. Almost none of their killers – brothers, fathers, husbands and uncles – were ever brought to justice. But then, Pakistan is an Islamic society, and only one of many around the world. When you live in an Islamic society, you are subject to its rules. Each of these women was someone’s wife, mother or daughter. Are those promoting multiculturalism in America prepared to live with the outcome?

I give thanks that we as a nation could still muster enough outrage over the court-ordered starvation death of Terri Schiavo, while her husband clutched her million-dollar malpractice award and his new girlfriend. The Florida State Legislature acted, and volunteers continue to battle for her in the courts. We are not yet a nation that takes out the helpless with the day’s trash.

While I’m saddened that the ignorant and foolish continue clearcutting the Christian foundations of our nation, I’m thankful that men and women of faith, character and vision continue to stand and oppose them – even at great personal cost. Judge Roy Moore comes to mind, but so do high-school class valedictorians who refuse to have references to God edited out of their graduation speeches, and even the simple patriotism demonstrated by students at Rockford College in Illinois. They booed New York Times reporter Chris Hedges off the graduation stage once he launched into his left-wing, hate-America speech at their graduation ceremony.

I’m thankful that our president understands the need to strike at Islamic terrorists in the nations that give them quarter – before they visit America with their vision of mass murder and political terror as a way to usher in Islamic heaven on earth. I’m grateful to our soldiers, who – although we can have little doubt would rather be anywhere else this Thanksgiving – are risking their lives to protect us from terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and other troubled parts of the world. And I’m thankful that our judicial system here at home has seen fit to punish Muslim American extremists who have taken up arms against this country. A group of Taliban sympathizers in Portland, Ore., just received 18-year prison sentences for their misplaced loyalties.

I’m thankful that Steve Meadows, one passenger who gave up his seat to a soldier from the 101st Airborne on leave and flying standby, could inspire 21 other normally hurried and rushed people to “go thou and do likewise.” As a result of his simple act of charity and decency, others were inspired. Delta, its pilot, crew and staff deserve our patronage for honoring their passengers’ desires.

I’m grateful to WorldNetDaily for having the courage to print the truth in a world that is often offended by it. I’m thankful for a thousand conservative bloggers, many of whom will never attract more than a handful of readers, but who nevertheless have chosen to act in the face of the leftist media’s agenda-dominated news onslaught. No one who stands for the truth will escape unscathed, because the world is not enamored with the truth. Those who do so deserve our support, for they will eventually experience the hatred a principled stand can generate among family, “friends” and websurfers.