A Thanksgiving Letter To My Kids

 

To Rachel and Adam, Thanksgiving Day, 2009. A day that begs the question, for what am I thankful?

 

Certainly, the two of you and the pride I feel in being partly responsible for your being here vie for the top of the list. I regret that our time together, when you were growing up, was so short and I'm sure that's why I treasure the memories from those years so much. I'm thankful that all of us, both of you, MariJane, Pat and myself, have managed to turn what was, at the time, a very sour lemon into lemonade.

I'm thankful to have had the good fortune of growing up with Mom and Dad, Bob, Ed and Jannelle. I didn't know enough to appreciate it then but, looking back, it was a great family. With Mom, the congenital liberal, on one end of the dinner table and Dad, the conservative rock, on the other end, it was a rare dinner that bored any of us. Yes, Ed had his problems but I've never known a better brain than his to bounce ideas off of. I miss him. And what I wouldn't give to spend another day with Mom and Dad. There's so much I'd like to talk with them about and so many questions I'd like to ask. I hope they knew I loved them because I was never very good at verbalizing such things. Hey, if this is starting to sound a little maudlin, don't worry. I'm not planning on cashing in my chips any time soon. I'm in great health .... for my age. And that's something else to be thankful for!

If the two of you only vie for the top spot on my list of things to be thankful for, it's only because nothing could be more important to me than my great, dumb luck of having been born an American. Does that sound corny? Maybe, but it's true, nonetheless. Some would ask why I feel that way and I would answer that it is the freedom we enjoy, and take for granted every day, that makes everything else, the kind of life I want to live, possible. I am thankful that there was that group of brilliant men 233 years ago who risked everything to create a form of government, the first in human history, based on the revolutionary concept of Individual Liberty. Freedom. Before that moment, man had always been only a 'subject' who's existence depended on the whims, good, bad and very bad, of a top-dog; be it a king, chief, pope, high-priest, dictator, furor, or any of the other tyrants who are wont to grab the reins of power.

The Founders knew that what they had created was unique and that it would be forever at risk because so many were, and always would be, hostile to the idea that an individual should be free. They warned us of the  dangers ahead: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety", B. Franklin, "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of liberty", T. Jefferson.

It will be no surprise to either of you that I think we have not been "vigilant" enough. And, that explains your Christmas presents this year. It was late in my life when I came to appreciate and love American History. Actually, driving a school bus is something else I'm thankful for because, with all the sitting-around-time, it has given me time to read a lot of books I'd never read, before. You have both studied a lot more history than I will ever know but I think there's a difference in classroom learning and what you pick up on your own. So, your Christmas presents this year are my way of trying to kindle, or rekindle, your interest in what I think we all should all be very thankful for.