PUBLISHED: November 24, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com
We all have something wonderful to celebrate on Thanksgiving.
We all have won lottery tickets while residing in the United States, the best of all possible worlds, warts and all. We do not sleep worried we will be killed by bombs or rockets. We do not worry about famine or starvation. We do not live in a land where death certificates arrive before birth certificates. We can march to our own drummers. Freedom of religion flourishes more than any other country on earth. You can build a better mousetrap and prosper by your own skill, foresight and industry.
To whom so much is given, much is expected. Each day is a marvelous opportunity to grow wiser by retrieving and reading all the great books and absorbing all the genius of the ages on the internet — a tuition-free Ivy League education. Each day is an exciting opportunity to display compassion to those in sorrow, generosity to those in need and kindness to all. The highest reward is selflessness, not avarice, egotism or narcissism. We all have a chance to live for the ages by example to inspire the living and those yet to be born.
We enjoy government by the consent of the governed, not tyranny or monarchy. Ultimate sovereignty is entrusted to We the People of the United States, not one person or group of people. We live under a constitution that is the handiwork of the greatest minds to ever gather under a single roof. It features separation of powers, judicial review, transparency and accountability. It stands like the Rock of Gibraltar after 235 years impregnable to the elements or the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that men are heir to. It has survived wars, terrorism, extremism and depressions without a scar. It remains the envy of the world.
We can all become rich beyond imagination by remembering that the highest most indestructible wealth is to have little but to want nothing more. The road to an impoverished life is to have everything but with an insatiable craving to be even richer.
In the United States, we are captains of our souls, masters of our fate. That happy condition did not come by accident. We should be grateful for the unsurpassed sacrifices and sufferings of our forebears which have emancipated us from ignorance, bigotry and selfishness.
Where would we be without the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence who signed their own death warrants to end the shackles of King George III’s tyranny? Where would we be without Valley Forge, Cemetery Ridge, Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima? Where would we be without the Underground Railroad, Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman? Where would we be without those who gave and risked that last full measure of devotion to guarantee that the government of the people, by the people, for the people did not perish from the Earth?
Where would we be without the first person in the world who protested slavery and was slain for his courage and righteousness unknown to posterity? Where would we be without the first person in the world who protested the subjugation of females and was stoned to death unheralded and unknown to us today? Where would we be without Socrates who took the hemlock to end the bondage of the cerebral faculties to hormonal gratifications, the thinker to the armored knight? Where would we be without the Sermon on the Mount?
Let us be thankful for another peaceful transfer of presidential power and elections unmarred by violence or bitterness. Let us be thankful for all the philanthropists among us who unsparingly share their good fortune with others. Let us be thankful that the United States remains the greatest country in history that stands as a beacon to all seeking justice and a fair opportunity in the chance of life unburdened by artificial handicaps. Let us be thankful that we confront no existential threats. As Abraham Lincoln put it, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
Let us be thankful that we continue to elect people who embody the better angels of our nature. They are not perfect. They stumble from time to time. But they still set a standard to which the wise and honest may repair.
Celebrate Thanksgiving with every benevolent instinct of the human heart. That is our hope and inspiration for our future.
Finally, let me express my personal thanks for all the wonderful readers of The Baltimore Sun and each and every employee who makes it possible. Happy Thanksgiving!
Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.
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