Thanksgiving 2006

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, November 19, 2006

Over the 350+ years since the first “Thanksgiving” held by the Pilgrims near the famous Plymouth Rock, countless articles, statements, and letters have been written extolling the many blessings that people of the myriad generations have enjoyed since that time.  Countless essays have been constructed to commemorate all of the good things that Almighty God has showered a sometimes unworthy people with as the passage of years and events have brought our nation forward in the panorama of history.

As I sit before the screen of my computer this morning, it occurs to me that folks of my generation…those born shortly after the Second World War…have more for which to be thankful than perhaps any preceding generation.  Just in the span of my lifetime, which some younger folks might view as Methuselahistic in nature, the span of products, opportunities, and procedures for making life better have increased exponentially many, many times.

In my lifetime, I have viewed people in rural areas of Tennessee in the late 1940s (albeit a very, very few) who still, occasionally, drove mules and a wagon into town.  As an adult, I have flown faster than the speed of sound.  When I was a child, a heart attack usually meant a sedentary and short life for the victim.  As a 20 year old, I saw the results of the first open heart surgery.  When I was a child, I met a man who had traveled around the world.  On Friday last, I met a man (Dr. Edgar Mitchell) who walked on the moon.  As a child, I did my homework on paper and with a pencil.  As an adult, I am writing this article electronically on a “state of the art” computer…which has just become outdated!

I know what it is to cook over an opened fireplace, burn a coal-oil lamp when electricity was not available, and to try to use the telephone on an “eight party-line.”  I remember when “polio” was a real danger and when “aids” were some people who worked in schools.  I know what it is to sleep as the rain patters on a tin roof, to jump out of a warm bed into a cold bedroom on a frigid winter morning, and to use an outdoor privy (that’s a outside bathroom for you uneducated folks).

I am thankful for the things I’ve enjoyed, the experiences I have had, and the people I have known.  Equally, I am thankful for the negative things that (through the bountiful blessings of Almighty God) I have avoided.  As my good friend, the late Rufus White, used to say, “I am much better off than I deserve!”

Most of all, I am thankful for family.  While mine has changed drastically over the past several years, all of the changes have been in the fullness of time and each one, even the sad ones, have been blessings and in accordance with the Divine Will of our Heavenly Father.

On this occasion, I wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving and a healthy and prosperous year to come.