Gratitude & Perspective This Thanksgiving

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I've been seeing a lot of stressed-out audiences at conferences and organizations where I have been speaking in-person and virtually lately, and it seems like Thanksgiving provides us all with a precious moment to slow down and count our blessings.

Perspective?is?precious.

The next time you want to gripe about how “tough” you have it, grab a copy of the play or movie version of William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker and observe the trials and triumphs of Helen Keller and her extraordinary teacher, Anne Sullivan. Or volunteer at a homeless shelter or in a children’s hospital. Or watch the nightly news.

When I taught English as a second language to international engineering students at the University of Southern California, I used to ask my students what impressed them the most about America. One response, echoed by a majority of students, left me flabbergasted. “The fact that you can criticize your political leaders without going to prison,” a student offered, as his classmates nodded. While many Americans take it for granted that our comedians can routinely ridicule anyone in higher office, we fail to recognize that this right is not given in many places throughout the world.

See, we get so wrapped up in our own tribulations that we often ignore the good fortune surrounding us.

Sarah Josepha Buell was born in New Hampshire in 1788. She and her siblings were schooled at home, and young Sarah devoured all the books available to her. In her reading she discovered that few of the books were written by Americans, and none were written by women. So the self-educated Buell began teaching school at age 18 and wrote poetry in her spare time.

By age 24 she married lawyer David Hale, and the two lived what the new Sarah Josepha Hale described as an “idyllic life,” raising five children. Tragically, David Hale died of a stroke just nine years into their marriage, leaving his bride with five young children and limited financial resources. To supplement her income, Sarah published collections of her poems. In 1827, she published her first novel, Northwood: Life North and South, which was one of the first books about slavery. The successful book espoused a number of New England virtues and introduced the American public to the New England tradition of an annual holiday of “Thanksgiving.”

Impressed by Sarah’s novel, Reverend John Blake asked her to move to Boston to serve as the editor of his journal, Ladies’ Magazine. She served as editor for the next eight years until the journal was bought by Louis Antoine Godey, owner of Godey’s Lady’s Book. Godey asked Sarah to serve as the editor of his publication, which she did for the next 40 years – retiring when she was almost 90! The journal’s readership boasted over 150,000 subscribers – by far the most successful of any magazine pre-dating the Civil War, making Sarah Josepha Hale one of the most significant influences of American life – sort of the “Oprah” of her day.

While Hale was a staunch advocate for women’s education and entry into the work force, one of her greatest passions – which became a lifelong pursuit – was establishing “Thanksgiving” as a national holiday. In addition to publishing almost annual editorials in her magazine, Hale advocated for a national day of gratitude by publishing Thanksgiving poems, stories of the family gatherings and recipes for what many today consider standard Thanksgiving fare, including roast turkey and pumpkin pie. She also began a letter-writing campaign to elected officials that would last almost forty years - through the administrations of five U.S. Presidents. Despite her notoriety, her letters were mostly met with deaf ears.

The outbreak of the Civil War proved to Sarah that more than ever before, Americans needed to “put aside sectional feelings and local incidents” and rally around the unifying cause of Thanksgiving. After Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued Thanksgiving Day proclamations after important Southern victories in 1861 and 1862, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln responded by calling for a “day of thanks” after Union victories in the spring of 1862 and the Battle of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863.

Observing Lincoln’s summer proclamation, Hale wrote the President and Secretary of State William Seward that September and once again argued for the necessity for a national day of gratitude. Whether her letter was the impetus is up for debate, but a week later President Lincoln issued an official proclamation fixing the national observation of Thanksgiving on the final Thursday in November “and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens…and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore…the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”

While Hale’s fame may not have followed her past the 19th century, her life produced two tributes that every American to this day knows.

The first is the national holiday of Thanksgiving she lobbied for half of her life to express American citizens’ collective gratitude for their blessings as a country. The second was a simple written passage that stood out among all of her novels and editorials. For it was Sarah Josepha Hale who wrote a simple rhyme every school child learns to this day. The nursery rhyme is known as “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

In a time when women lacked the social status of men, Sarah Josepha Hale ingratiated herself to the public and never allowed obstacles – not her lack of formal schooling, the premature death of her husband nor the ignorance of decades of politicians to her efforts to establish a national Thanksgiving holiday – get in her way.

See, I believe all of us could use a dose of perspective and humility this holiday season.

Stay?positive.?Stay?safe.

Let?me?know?how?I?can?best?serve?you.

Smile,?and?enjoy?your?Thanksgiving.?Thank?you?for?all?you?do.???

Remember:?YOU?make?a?difference?EVERY?day.

All?the?best,?and?God?bless!

Danny???

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