Over the past several years, I’ve been trying to make the holiday of Thanksgiving more meaningful for myself and for the people I care about (that includes all of you folks), without being revisionist. In order to create this sense of meaningfulness, I attempted to distill this popular American holiday into its basic components (hoping that the end product is a social phenomenon greater than the sum of its parts). In summary, I found this time of year to be a welcome opportunity to reflect upon things for which I am grateful, to commit to being more resilient, and to express appreciation for the people around me. Here’s what I’ve learned from the people who celebrated that first Thanksgiving feast and what we share with our students year-round:
- Gratitude: The first Thanksgiving feast was originally intended to celebrate the successful fall harvest, a tradition that the pilgrims brought with them to America. They had much to celebrate since only about half of those who made the journey survived. They probably didn’t eat mashed potatoes, they didn’t have flour for pies, and there is little evidence to support that they ate more than meat and fowl (not necessarily turkey). Through our character education programs at SOCSD, we teach students that there can be no joy without gratitude.
- Resiliency: The 53 pilgrims at the inaugural Thanksgiving feast were the only survivors of the original 102 colonists. Disease and starvation reduced the community to nearly half by the first winter. Thanksgiving is a great time to celebrate our own triumphs over adversity and to recognize that it’s perfectly acceptable to fail before we succeed. We encourage our students (and ourselves) that “failing forward” is an important way to grow, survive, adapt, and innovate–all traits that are critical for us to thrive.
- Teamwork and Community: These colonists survived the first winter through cooperation with and support from the local Wampanoag tribe. Working together, these people leveraged the strength of their diverse talents and resources. We Americans have a long history to demonstrate that hatred weakens us and diversity strengthens us. Collaborative problem-solving is something that we encourage through problem-based learning in all of our schools. This is as important in the 21st Century as it was in the 17th Century. Today, we should all be vigilant against senseless acts borne out of weakness, cowardice, and hatred, specifically those acts of social injustice and cultural intolerance that seem to be increasingly present in our society. As a school district, we stand united against violence aimed at dividing and destroying our communities.
In 1621, my direct ancestor John Howland participated in this inaugural harvest celebration as a member of the Plymouth Colony. If he were alive today, I would hope that he would be honored by the fact that his descendants were still committed to the ideals associated with being grateful, resilient, and the love and respect for all humanity. Happy Thanksgiving and I look forward to seeing everyone back safely after the break.