If you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate your dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!

Today, we in the United States celebrate a national holiday called Thanksgiving Day. As a general rule, there should be plenty of family gatherings, turkey dinners, football games, and parades in abundance.

Interestingly enough, though regularly celebrated far earlier (the first Thanksgiving Celebration was a three-day affair in December of 1620), it didn’t become a national holiday (as we know it now) until President Abraham Lincoln declared it so in 1863.

But in thinking about the origins and significance of the day, I was particularly struck this year by the words of President George Washington as he explained his reasoning for declaring it a special day, in his Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 (as quoted in Wallace v. Jaffree, 105 S.Ct. 2479, 2513 (1985) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting):

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Pretty profound, eh?

Anyway, I’d like to take moment and thank all those who have made a visit to the Middle Zone a regular (or yes, maybe even an irregular) part of your lives. My desire is that you gain something worthwhile every time you drop by, whether it’s something deeply profound – or just a giggle or two.

In fact, your visits, your comments and your wonderful and thoughtful contributions to the conversations here (as well as to the General Body of Knowledge) are very deeply appreciated.

God’s Blessings to you all!

Oh, and as always – a big tip o’ the hat to ya!

Back on Monday!

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