Is the Spirit of Hospitality Once Shown By the Native Americans is Lost in the America of Today
Thanksgiving is a popular holiday celebrated across North America and American territories. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. This particular holiday contains a spirit of nobility. America is at its best on Thanksgiving, families get together, wonderful meals are cooked and everyone shares quality family time around the kitchen table.
It is an occasion to say thanks to God, family and friends.
As Americans prepare to get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner in the last week of November it's worth keeping in mind that the United States has a long history of welcoming strangers to their land and taking in refugees.
Some of the first settlers who arrived on America's shores were Europeans. They fled their home countries in search of a new home. When the Mayflower ship landed in New England in the early 17th century, the people abroad that ship established a harvest celebration that would later become known as Thanksgiving. In this celebration they sat down for dinner with the Native Americans who were gracious to share their land with them.
George Washington after he became the first President asked Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving but it was Abraham Lincoln who made Thanksgiving an official holiday during the Civil War so as to bring the citizens together. The woman who championed the Thanksgiving movement Sarah Hale, wrote in 1864: “Let us each see to it that on this one day there shall be no family or individual, within the compass of our means to help, who shall not have some portion prepared, and some reason to join in the general Thanksgiving.”
Just as Americans prepare to show hospitality during Thanksgiving now in the year 2015, a nasty national debate is in progress over the issue of refugees. President Obama plans to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. After the Paris attacks, the plan has been widely criticized by nearly half the US governors. They fear that some of these refugees may harm the country and its citizens later on. Others argue back that the United States already rigorously vets all refugees and asylum seekers.The angry rhetoric over Syrian refugees and whether to admit them into the country is quite contrary with the United States' historical role in the world… that of helping others and giving shelter to the oppressed.
Will the Thanksgiving Celebration with all its traditions be able to rekindle the spirit of "welcoming" among Americans?
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