Island Voices
A lesson learned early of thanksgiving

Dear Editor:

When looking through an old scrapbook, I came across this letter, written to me by my father, Albert Cornsweet, when I was in college in 1944, I believe. A former political editor for the Cleveland Press, my dad was a thoughtful and kind man, and taught me many good lessons, of which this is one.

Perhaps your readers in these uncertain times might be interested in this letter, written in another uncertain time of war.

Margery C. Chapman
Honolulu, 2001

Dear Margery:

This is not a letter. It is something I would say to you, and we would talk about if you were at home.

I was lying here and reading. The words became blurred and somehow, my thought drifted far away from what I had been reading and pictures formed in my mind — unpleasant pictures, for the most part — of men in war factories scheming how to get more money into their pockets; of mothers teaching their small children to hate other small children by telling of their hates for other people; of men and women shaking off serious thoughts to indulge in flimsy, flippant conversation about food and entertainment and the satisfaction of appetite.

Thanksgiving is only a few days away, and I pictured these people doing and thinking the same petty things on that day. Then, this question was fashioned in my mind and I spoke it aloud:

"Do we — all the people who live in the United States — realize what we have here? Do we know how thankful we should be?"

I am afraid the answer is no. Why should that be so?

There are several main reasons, I think, why it is so. For one thing, we learn about the founding and history of this country when we are very young. We learn it in school rooms. It is not because we have desired this information. It is something that is taught. As children we probably cannot feel its meaning, and we resist an understanding of its meaning because it is school work and therefore something to learn rather than know.

For another reason, it is part of human nature to take things for granted, especially comfortable or pleasant things. We take such illusive things as freedom and equality of opportunity for granted because most of us in this country have never experienced their lack. I do believe that there was more love of the United States and its institutions a generation or two ago when a great proportion of those who lived here had come from some other country. To support this belief, I recall snatches of talk I heard as a very small child — talk by mid-aged and old men who had immigrated to this country. I recall, too, the approving nods of transplanted women who talked little but whose faces and gestures were eloquent.

Finally, the skepticism and "sophistication" of our age has poked fun at sentiment. We have formed the habit of turning up our noses at things that might bring a lump to our throats and tears to our eyes. We have failed to distinguish between maudlin and honest sentiment. The motion picture and the printed and spoken word have accelerated if they did not actually lead this movement.

There are other reasons for our failure as people to understand and appreciate and love — yes, love — our country. I am not speaking of its material advantages, of riches and comforts. I think you know what I mean, what we should cherish and be thankful for.

Have you ever given much thought to the struggle of those few who dared to establish here a new kind of living, a nation based on the sanctity of life, the dignity of man, and the freedom of the individual? Have you ever read the words of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Webster and Paine and opened your ear to them so you could truly understand what they said and stood for?

Millions of men and women and children have died of starvation and by the sword in lands ruled by tyrants since their words were uttered. Millions of human lives were snuffed out because of a whim or fancy of one or a group drunk with power. Even those who lived had little to be thankful for if they were not of "the chosen."

You and your friends are adults now, Margery. May I suggest that you devote just a little time before Thanksgiving Day to think about what you owe to this country? All is not perfect here, of course, but when you strike a balance I think you will honestly be able and eager to say with Daniel Webster, "Thank God I am an American."

Dad