Opinion: Americans' generosity worthy of Thanksgiving

While smatterings of the season have cropped up since before Halloween, Thanksgiving had to be dealt with.

Enter the commercial holiday.

Partially concealed in the shopping frenzy is a religious holiday. Many will celebrate it, as long as they don’t do it in or near a facility having anything to do with the government.

Thanksgiving seems to get lost in the haste to get on with preparations for the bigger holiday. Thanksgiving incites no commercial frenzy beyond buying food. Few of us send “Happy Thanksgiving” cards, nor do we exchange elaborately wrapped gifts. We don’t set off fireworks. With the possible exception of an occasional Pilgrim outfit, no Thanksgiving costume market is tapped.

Of course, we do buy food. The turkey has become the symbol for the holiday. Let’s face it; a turkey logo isn’t likely to generate much holiday excitement.

All this having been said, I like Thanksgiving; I like it a lot. It’s the last moment of holiday sanity until the family gathers around the tree on Christmas Eve or morning.

Thanksgiving does have religious ramifications: The Pilgrims held a feast to thank God and the friendly Indians for their survival. Unlike Christmas, which is supposed to celebrate the birth of Christ, the religious nature of Thanksgiving hasn’t yet drawn fire from civil libertarians.

My family celebrated Thanksgiving in Kansas. Gathered at the table were folks I love, all related to each other by blood or marriage. It doesn’t get any better than that!

The best thing about Thanksgiving is the significance of its name. It’s a celebration of the things to be thankful for. At the top of my thankful list was being surrounded by my loved ones, surely the essence of thanks.

Once the holiday shopping season is over, the true joys of the real Christmas can be experienced. Looking forward to celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace with loved ones is grounds for enjoying Thanksgiving Day.

Pondering events to be thankful for at first offers a bleak horizon. Recent weather disasters don’t encourage thankful reflections. The hurricane season was about as bad as it could be. Factor in floods, earthquakes and tornadoes, and not much good is apparent. I suppose survivors may reserve their thanks for having survived.

A recent article in USA Today gave me reasons for giving thanks. The response of Americans to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is nearing $2.7 billion and still growing.

Projections push the total beyond the record charitable giving of $2.8 billion in the wake of Sept. 11. Charitable organizations believe hurricane relief donations could go well beyond $3 billion.

American generosity doesn’t stop at the borders. USA Today points out that in 2004, Americans donated $1.55 billion in relief for the Asian tsunami. Take a bow, America.

Hurricane relief money figures don’t include the items donated to aid the survivors, many of whom were left with nothing. Truckloads of donated necessities were on the roads mere hours after the storms hit.

Nor do the dollar totals reflect the countless hours of time donated by people from all over the nation. Some have come from churches or volunteer organizations, others on their own.

All came for one reason: It was the right thing to do. The extent of American generosity is difficult to measure. The totals for Katrina and Rita relief don’t include money and goods for relief in response to other weather-related incidents and the usual charitable needs. Also not counted is the virtually endless supply of American taxpayers’ dollars already contributed, and much more to come.

Yes, on Thanksgiving, I was thankful that millions of Americans are willing to put their money where their hearts are.

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.