Thanksgiving Greetings 2020
November 25, 2020
Dear Friends,
Each year at Thanksgiving, I write a letter that goes out to the constituents of the 6th Congressional District that is more about faith, family, and tradition than politics. This year, Elizabeth Hance, my Communications Director, gets the honor of having an article she wrote become "our" Thanksgiving message. It is beautifully written and touches the very points that we all need to hear and embrace. I hope you will read it and share it with your families and that it will remind you that, despite all our nation has been through this year, we all truly have much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Gary Palmer
Dear Friends,
This Thanksgiving season, I'm struck by the fact that this year is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims' 1620 landing on the Massachusetts shore and their signing of the Mayflower Compact, one of the first documents that recognized the inherent right to self-government, a right that our Founding Fathers would later affirm in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. After a difficult year of struggling for survival, the Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving feast in November 1621.
It's inspiring to consider the hardships the Pilgrims faced that led to that feast and early attempt at self-governance that would go on to influence America in ways they could never have imagined. Many of those travelers to the new world were seeking refuge from religious restrictions that prevented them from living out their convictions in their European homelands. The sea voyage was long and filled with dangers, and once the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, they had to work hard to keep their new community from starving or dying in the harsh elements. But the hardships they faced make their determination and early experiment in self-governing an even more powerful example for us today.
This Thanksgiving season, I'm struck by the fact that this year is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims' 1620 landing on the Massachusetts shore and their signing of the Mayflower Compact, one of the first documents that recognized the inherent right to self-government, a right that our Founding Fathers would later affirm in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. After a difficult year of struggling for survival, the Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving feast in November 1621.
It's inspiring to consider the hardships the Pilgrims faced that led to that feast and early attempt at self-governance that would go on to influence America in ways they could never have imagined. Many of those travelers to the new world were seeking refuge from religious restrictions that prevented them from living out their convictions in their European homelands. The sea voyage was long and filled with dangers, and once the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, they had to work hard to keep their new community from starving or dying in the harsh elements. But the hardships they faced make their determination and early experiment in self-governing an even more powerful example for us today.
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