Editorial: Despite virus, plenty of reasons to be thankful

The calendar says it’s the fourth Thursday in November. Mail won’t be delivered. Most people have the day off. Some of the football games on TV look promising.

But for many of us, despite these familiar circumstances, today won’t seem much like Thanksgiving.

Those who turn the TV on early to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade will quickly be reminded that this Thanksgiving Day is different. The parade is set to go on, but with a big difference: There will be no excited crowds vying for position to see the elaborate floats, marching bands, troupes of performers, giant balloons and, of course, Santa Claus passing on the streets of Manhattan. Today’s parade will travel only one block, past the cameras, and that area will be closed to onlookers.

Not that anyone really needs a reminder that the pandemic, resurging with a vengeance now, is disrupting our lives.

Some people, no doubt, are pushing ahead with their usual Thanksgiving routines anyway, heedless of warnings and guidelines.

Many of us, though, are taking the danger seriously and scaling back. We’ve canceled our usual trips to gather with family and friends. Many who are staying home are observing the holiday with immediate family only rather than extending the usual hospitality to relatives and friends.

For some, all this means a pretty lame holiday. Why haul out the tablecloth or roast a turkey?

Maybe, though, there are things to be thankful for, reasons to feel some holiday spirit.

Usually, we are urged to take a moment off from the fun to remember the meaning of the day. This year, with less fun and more time, might be a good time to do that.

For some, the meaning of Thanksgiving involves history. You know the story: The Pilgrims, after suffering great losses the winter they sailed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, moved ashore in the spring of 1621. There they were greatly helped by Squanto and other Native Americans who taught them to cultivate corn, pick cranberries, hunt turkeys and survive in a strange environment. That fall, to celebrate a successful harvest, the colony’s governor organized a thanksgiving feast and invited Native Americans to join in.

Here in Hampton Roads, of course, we proudly counter that the real first Thanksgiving was a couple of years earlier, in December 1619, at Berkeley Plantation on the James River, about 30 miles upstream from the Jamestown settlement. There, Anglican settlers knelt to thank God as they stepped off their ship onto Virginia soil. They pledged to keep that day holy as a day of Thanksgiving every year.

These days, though, we know those don’t tell the whole tale. Americans have become more conscious of the complexities of our national story, including the treatment of Native Americans.

Mostly though, Thanksgiving has simply evolved to be more about treasuring family and friends. The pastors and editorialists urging us to remember the meaning of the day usually are talking about pausing a moment to be thankful for our blessings.

Today, the pandemic may be keeping us from traveling or gathering in large groups, but it shouldn’t keep us from giving thanks. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves about the people and activities we’ll miss, let’s consider how fortunate we are to have those traditions. We can give thanks for the friends and family who won’t share our table this year, and realize how much they mean to us.

Remember the old sayings about not appreciating what we have until it’s gone?

But — thank goodness — those traditions we treasure aren’t gone, just on hold. In this year of COVID, we can give heartfelt thanks for those we love and all we’ve shared with them in the past. We can give thanks for all who are working to keep us safe and to get this virus under control. We can look forward to getting back to the normal we used to take for granted.

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