Thanksgiving

Today, many of us here in the United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends.  There are many traditions associated with this holiday, but there's one that I am particularly fond of - the simple act of expressing gratitude for everything that we have and to all of the individuals in our lives.  You can say "Thank you" to your family, friends, and co-workers.  You can be thankful for your happiness, health, or good fortune.  It doesn't matter as much - just being thankful and appreciative and showing your gratitude is important.

The first children's hospital that I worked at (as a medical student) was Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis, named after the Indiana poet, James Whitcomb Riley.  Known as the "Hoosier Poet", Riley's poems were often written in a folksy dialect (in fact, the majority of his nearly 1,000 poems were written in dialect).  He is perhaps best known for his poems Little Orphant Annie (which inspired both the comic strip and the Broadway musical) and The Raggedy Man (which inspired the Raggedy Ann doll).  Appropriate for today's post, Riley also wrote a poem entitled Thanksgiving which I think reflects a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for all of the simple things in life:

Let us be thankful—not only because

   Since last our universal thanks were told

We have grown greater in the world’s applause,

   And fortune’s newer smiles surpass the old—

But thankful for all things that come as alms

   From out the open hand of Providence:—

The winter clouds and storms—the summer calms—

   The sleepless dread—the drowse of indolence.

Let us be thankful—thankful for the prayers

   Whose gracious answers were long, long delayed,

That they might fall upon us unawares,

   And bless us, as in greater need we prayed.

Let us be thankful for the loyal hand

   That love held out in welcome to our own,

When love and only love could understand

   The need of touches we had never known.

Let us be thankful for the longing eyes

   That gave their secret to us as they wept,

Yet in return found, with a sweet surprise,

   Love’s touch upon their lids, and, smiling, slept.

And let us, too, be thankful that the tears

   Of sorrow have not all been drained away,

That through them still, for all the coming years,

   We may look on the dead face of To-day.

And this year perhaps most of all, let us be thankful for the simple blessings of life.  In a world that is often filled with strife, conflict, and discord, let us be reminded of the spirit of harmony and peace.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!