Dear residents, family members, friends, supporters of Dodge Park Rest Home and the Day Club, and Lady and Gentleman,
I use those words ladies and gentlemen deliberately because a lady or a gentleman always gives thanks where thanks are due. Certainly we owe fervent thanks for all that we have today.
We don’t count our blessing often enough of course. There is something in our nature, which makes it easier for most of us to grumble. We worry about paying the bills for consumer goods, which are far beyond the reach of most of this world’s inhabitants. We want bigger cars, better jobs and better things for our children.
So it is good once a year to reflect on what we do have. It does us no harm to realize that we are blessed with far more than material wealth. Our children do not go hungry. Unlike millions of others we are free to walk down the road without worrying about being arrested and thrown into prison without trial. We are free from terror and persecution. Our religious beliefs, or lack of them, are our own concern. Today then it is no harm to thank God, or Providence, for our lot in life.
That is not to say, of course, that we don’t have problems. Most of us have to deal with illness or lack of employment or sorrow sometime during the year. Perhaps then we should be grateful for the inner resources we have been given to deal with such problems. We should give thanks for love and friendship.
The festival of Thanksgiving is linked with the Harvest Festival as well as the safe arrival of the settlers and the Pilgrim fathers. Those settlers endured much hardship and worked very hard before they could celebrate. As we look at groaning tables today we might do well to think of them and learn a little from them.
Above all, we should be thankful for the gifts of laughter and good cheer without which even the most scrumptious food would taste of nothing. We should give thanks for those who share our feast. On this special day then let us raise our glasses and give a toast
May we always have a full table Lord and grateful hearts.
Enjoy Thanksgiving with your loved one and may this Thanksgiving be a blessed one.
Micha Shalev MHA, Ben Herlinger and Carrie Lindberg RN BSN
