Thankful

Thanksgiving Day dawned clear and cool with an onshore breeze. Many years ago we were living on Cape Cod courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. Ann put the turkey in the oven and we drove out new Volkswagen Bug the short 30 miles to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Destination the Pilgrim Memorial State Park which boasts a replica of the Pilgrim’s 1620s village with Mayflower II moored alongside their dock.

The place is a bit touristy with employees roaming about in period costume. Their replica log houses are small with minimal furnishings representing how hard life must have been for those first European residents of the new world. A turkey was roasting on a spit over an open fire, hominy pudding was a making along with fresh cranberry compote. Preparations in remembrance of the very first Thanksgiving feast.

This flatlander was a bit impressed to walk through the Mayflower II. The 66 days at sea must have been really tough to endure for the 102 passengers plus an unremembered number of crew crowded aboard before they landed at Provincetown Harbor. Dingy, dark, no privacy, poor food and rough seas about as bad as one can only imagine. There they paused several days before sailing across the bay and anchored at Plymouth Harbor. Yes, they also display Plymouth Rock but what is enshrined there must be a figment of someone’s imagination.

On display, there is a copy of the Mayflower Compact which the Pilgrims had agreed to abide for their government in their new world. Back in the 1960s I merely glanced over the document and went our happy way. There was, after all, a big meal to prepare back at our on-base home.

Today the charter of the Plymouth Colony deserves a little more study. At the time it was an experiment in government and history shows it had its problems. Actually, the Compact reflected the most up-to-date economic, philosophical and religious thinking of the early 17th century. Plato was in vogue then and Plato believed in central planning by intellectuals in the context of communal property, centralized state education, state centralized cultural offerings and communal family structure. Come to think of it that charter sounds an awfully lot like what our intellectual elite progressive, so called, leaders of today are espousing. A better term is socialism, Democratic Socialism.

Well, how good did it work out for the Plymouth Colony? As William Bradford recorded in his Of Plymouth Plantation, a people who had formerly been known for their virtue and hard work became lazy and unproductive. Resources were squandered, vegetables were allowed to rot on the ground and mass starvation was the result. And where there is starvation, there is plague After 2 1/2 years, the leaders of the colony decided to abandon their socialist mandate and create a system which honored private property. The colony survived and thrived and the abundance which resulted was what was celebrated at that first iconic Thanksgiving feast.

It is my understanding that history is no longer a required subject in today’s public schools. In our recent past, our leaders were educated in the principles which were to help them avoid errors once they joined the ruling class. They studied to learn how to not misuse power. Now our leaders learn nothing of the dangers of abusing power: their education is entirely geared to the acquisition of power. Think Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and the new darling of the progressive left Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sadly they are not alone. Socialism didn’t work for the Pilgrims and has never worked whenever it has been tried worldwide. So why do our social progressives dream that it works with them in charge?

Unrelated to political thinking, your old columnist has a request. You may know that I am on the governing board for Camp Comeca. Comeca is a church camp located on the scenic hills overlooking lakes along the Tri-County Canal south of Cozad. Great facilities and our goal is to make Disciples of Jesus Christ. Wonderful summer programs for youth and year around retreats for all ages. The camp is in dire need of a four-wheel drive pickup on which to mount a snowplow and use year around for camp needs. We have no money. Looking for someone needing a tax write-off to donate such a vehicle. It may have a little age, scratches and dents but all we need is for it to be serviceable. If you have one let me know 308 340-7689. Ideas?

Now to happier thoughts. Grannie Annie’s Adopt a Chaplain ministry has completed its huge Christmas efforts as of today. The last 50 boxes, care packages, were delivered to the Post Office this morning. Destination Afghanistan. Hopefully, those packages will brighten a lonely holiday so far from home and family for our troops in harm’s way.

And yes your largess will enable Grannie to keep sending those care packages a few each week throughout the coming year. Hopefully, until our troops finish their overseas tasks and come back home.

Grannie and I are so impressed with the giving spirit of this whole Southwestern Nebraska community. You made it possible. You wrote Christmas cards. You donated items to send. You gave money and treasure to meet all the expenses. Volunteers came from Benkelman to Arapahoe to pack the boxes and secure them for shipment. Like Grannie says “She is only the hands and feet to guide the effort. It is YOU that made it possible.” May God bless you one and all.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail