The American Farm Bureau Federation released its analysis of Thanksgiving meal costs for this year with the total cost of the meal rising around 15%. In particular, the cost of turkey has increased by 24%. Various news sources are running headlines about the increased pressure to the average family's pocketbook. Serious sounding headlines dealing with supply chain bottlenecks, inflation, and even whether or not folks should eat together given Covid concerns. Stack that on top of worries folks have over how mandates will impact their job status in the next couple months, and it's easy to feel anything buy thankful for Thanksgiving. The last couple of crazy, unprecedented years have been stressful, so I decided to check the paper archives from major events in our history to see how they talked about giving thanks in times of uncertainty.
The November 28, 1929 issue of the Mountaineer, which came out on Thanksgiving Day, was released about 4 weeks after the stock market crash that initiated the Great Depression. The article proclaims: "The year just past has been a lean one in some of the agricultural districts of the state, but most of us need not make a strict search to find the good things that have come to us, and even the most disgruntled citizen in our community may find just cause for rejoicing. After we finish the list of personal joys and add that our good schools, good churches and community of progressive citizens, we find that life is indeed worth living." Three years later, the Mountaineer offered the poignant assessment: "We have come through the three most trying years we have experienced in more than half a century. We have come through them safely, with far less suffering, far less permanent injury to our national institutions and our national welfare than have any of the other peoples of the world." In years that followed, Thanksgiving write ups focused on finding reasons to be thankful, including overcoming the fears that plagued the nation in the preceding years or recognizing ways that God had provided for the community over the years. One thing that struck me about these articles was that each year, they claimed that prosperity would return any time now. Each time, they thanked God for their blessings and hoped for tomorrow to be better.
In 1941, two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the paper ran a collection of thoughts from members of the community regarding the holiday. One stood out in light of the events that would unfold in the coming days: "Thanksgiving to God is, in a way, like patriotism to our country. We celebrate the Fourth of July and other given times for reasons of patriotism, but we should be just as patriotic every other day in the year as on the Fourth of July. So we should likewise be thankful to God throughout the year." Two issues later, the same space would be filled with a political cartoon encouraging productivity for the war effort. As WW2 carried on, the paper spent less time focusing on the day, though they made it a point to publish prayer and scripture related to the day. They also made it a point to report on the status of various local boys deployed around the world and how they spent the holiday. This included the prayer that was printed on the Thanksgiving menu for Harley Dyer's company, which appeared in the December 14, 1944 issue.
In 1918, a few weeks after Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) when WW1 ended, the paper ran President Wilson's Thanksgiving Proclamation on the front page. "It has long been our custom to turn in the autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to almighty God for His many blessings and mercies as a nation. This year, we have special and moving cause to be grateful and to rejoice. God in His good pleasure has given us peace. It has not come as a mere cessation of arms, a mere relief from the strain and tragedy of war. It has come as a great triumph of right."
Exploring the attitude of our community in the face of World Wars and the Great Depression, both of which made the somewhat difficult life on the prairie more challenging, I find myself wondering at their attitude of thankfulness as they approached the holiday. In addition, there us one particular element that I have not mentioned yet that appeared in nearly every paper for decades. They covered who was doing what with their holiday: who visited who, what families ate together, and all sorts of other details that only matter if folks were invested in the lives of their neighbors. During our weird times, with their rancor and fear, we should consider taking a page from our local paper. We should thank God and love our neighbor. We should take a day off of political division and just say thanks to God.
