Thanksgiving is twice blessed. It blesseth those who give and those who receive.

Its origins trace back to 1621, more than four centuries ago, featuring the Plymouth colony, Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution, and the Wampanoag Native Americans who were present long before Columbus purported to discover America in 1492. It was a three-day gathering to celebrate a bountiful harvest and peace fortified by prayer.

The first Thanksgiving is a reminder of William Faulkner's wisdom in "Requiem for a Nun": "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

We continue to struggle with religious freedom. Antisemitism is rampant, spiked by Hamas's murderous aggression against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, applauded by many anti-Zionists like New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. President Donald Trump recently deplored Nigeria's "existential threat" to Christians. Buddhist Myanmar has been found guilty of genocide of the Muslim Rohingya by the International Court of Justice. This is but the tip of the iceberg of religious persecution globally that haunts the species.

Let us pause to reflect on James Madison's 1785 "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" saluting religious liberty as an unalienable natural right:

"(W)e hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, 'that Religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.' The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator. It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him."

Peace with Native Americans did not long endure. Columbus sailed under the aegis of the doctrine of discovery, a 15th-century theory derived from papal bulls on behalf of European colonial powers that dispossessed indigenous people of ownership of the lands they occupied. The United States inherited the doctrine, which provoked chronic conflict and warfare. Consider one of the grievances against King George III penned in the American Declaration of Independence:

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

The Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre, Wounded Knee and similar oppressions of Native Americans are a blight on American exceptionalism. They should humble us to our own shortcomings, and remind us of Matthew 7:3-5: "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?"

Let us always be grateful that all of us have won lottery tickets. The probability of human existence in the Milky Way galaxy is infinitesimal. Be grateful for small things: food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof to sleep under, and friends to enjoy. Life is commonly a sum of trifles.

Use suffering as a source of strength, not despair. Job's immense losses were more than amply rewarded. The test of character is how you recover from defeat, not how you rejoice in triumph.

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on Oct. 3, 1863. He summoned us to make it our finest hour in displaying charity and goodwill toward all in our midst.

I am in Israel this Thanksgiving, awed by a nation as much to be marveled at as imitated for perseverance and justice in housing God's chosen people.

Unsparing gratitude is our salvation.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Armstrong Williams is manager/sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast owner of the year. To find out more about him and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Brad Switzer at Unsplash