Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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As Thanksgiving approaches, it is reasonable to think about the trials and tribulations that the Pilgrims encountered when they landed at what would become the new Plymouth Colony in 1620.
Can you imagine what they encountered as they disembarked the Mayflower and embarked upon a journey that would lead to the establishment of the greatest country on the face of the Earth — the United States of America.
That was just a bit over 400 years ago and ever since that time, everyone born of this land or a new immigrant to it has striven to perfect this land of the free and the home of the brave.
Well, almost everyone.
I can’t help thinking about those early settlers and the real dangers they faced in an untamed and often hostile land. The Pilgrims brought their codes of conduct with them, adapted them to the new land, perfected them as circumstances warranted and passed them from one generation to the next so that those who would later claim America as their home would know instinctively what they possessed and how worthy they needed to be to steward this mighty place for the newest generations.
And for all of that, those people gave thanks. Today, we call it Thanksgiving and make it a holiday worth celebrating because it is about family and friends and the abundant blessings we receive just because we live here.
As Thanksgiving Day approaches, most of us are watching mostly young people marching in the streets in opposition to the state of Israel’s reaction to the single most horrific slaughter of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The marchers oppose keeping Jews safe and they oppose eliminating Hamas, a daily existential threat to women, children, babies and the elderly who are guilty of nothing more than peacefully sitting in their homes.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention, and of being Jewish.
Today, the world is watching. And what too many of us see are young people who don’t know any better, when they should; who don’t care to learn as they must; and who think they are right by taking up for murderers and cutthroats and against a people who yearn only to live in peace, because they have been easily swayed by the TikToks of the world and other social media that lead them to no other conclusion but that Israel (the Jews) is bad and Hamas and its ilk are doing the good work of the Lord.
I can’t help thinking about what the Pilgrims would have done, how they would have reacted to their young being so misguided and misdirected as to cheer for evil at the expense of the good.
That doesn’t mean that the younger generations aren’t right to deplore violence and wish for peace. They are right, of course.
But where they are wrong is in how they choose sides.
Determining who is good and who is evil has almost never been a challenge, especially for America. We don’t always get it right, but we rarely get it very wrong. And yet, the streets on this planet are full of young people who can’t wait to decry the Jews for defending themselves while they lionize the misfits who think murdering babies will bring them everlasting salvation.
I am told we must be patient. I am told we must focus on teaching and not telling. I am told that our youths’ hearts are in the right place, but it is their brains that are out to lunch.
I don’t know what the truth is in this case. There are just too many people who have fallen sway to society’s evildoers and don’t know enough or aren’t strong enough to cast them aside.
That’s why it is hard this week to sit around the Thanksgiving table and give thanks for all that we have. I know I should do that because America and Americans are blessed.
But for how long will that be the case? For how long will we have to make excuses for some youths in this country while they struggle with the simple concepts of right and wrong?
Where are the Pilgrims when we need them?
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.
