John Dunlop wrote:
>
> If I ever need to be reminded that this list is so USA dominated, this
> Thanksgiving holiday does it. Although I lived there for 8 years, I
> never could quite grasp the concept of Thanksgiving and why Americans
> make it such a big, important holiday especially so close to Christmas

> wipe out all the Indian inhabitants of America and didn't get far from
> achieving this objective. Is this really something to carry on
> celebrating? Surely it really represents something that should be
> remembered as America's shame, not a celebration?

I agree that it is to our shame what we have done (and continue to do)
to Native Americans.  But that was not the point of the original
celebration.  It was to give thanks to God for the many blessings he
pours out on the original settlers.  The current practice seems,
unfortunately, to have settled mostly on a celebration of the family
and retail shopping and how much food we can stuff without exploding.
There is little gratitude or giving of thanks in our country (always
exceptions, of course).
        Tom Hula
        Victor S. Barnes Company
        616.361.7351  x173