A Grand Thanksgiving to One and All!

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I’m reminded of all those blessings our family has reason to give thanks for. I’m also reminded of days gone by and how drastically things have changed in my short life time. This particular holiday is no exception.

 As a youngster growing up in Oklahoma City area, I can remember many Thanksgivings which were similar from year-to-year. The women and girls were occupied preparing a feast by any standard, while the men and boys spent the morning Quail hunting some 20 miles south of the city. There were aunts, uncles, cousins and every other form of family one can imagine. It was a traditional and family affair. But those were much simpler times and a lot has changed since those days.

 To me, Thanksgiving 1963 represented the beginning of a change in our entire society. It started with the shocking news of President John Kennedy’s assignation in Dallas. I don’t suppose anyone old enough to remember can’t recall where they were when they heard the news. I was returning from Central State College, located in Edmond and now known as the University of Central Oklahoma, where I had attended classes that morning.

 WKY Radio interrupted their programming at approximately 12:30 p.m. to announce the president had been shot and to join the ongoing national coverage. Not knowing what else to do, I headed for the same place I had always gone before when I perceived something was wrong. I headed for 1219 North Portland where my parents had resided for as long as I could remember. Together, we huddled closely to their old Philco TV set as the news from Dallas got steadily worse. Our worst fears confirmed…President Kennedy was dead.

 As I look back on that dark day, I realize it probably represented the death of my innocence. I had never dreamed such an event could take place in this country. This kind of thing was something Huntley & Brinkley would chronicle during their evening telecast from some far away place in another part of the world, not in the United States of America. But this was just the tip of the iceberg. The assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., along with the whole Vietnam experience would change our society forever. Shocking events were becoming less shocking and there was a division in our nation not witnessed since the civil war. Yet there was more to come.

 In recent years, we magnified our lists of tragic experiences with the Columbine mass shootings, the bombing of the Murrah Building in my home town and the horrific events of 9/11and unexplained shootings no longer even make the front pagee. Not to mention the many combat related events around the world we’ve engaged in as the self appointed sheriff for all of man kind..

 Coors was the drug of choice in my Oklahoma City high school and violence was defined by students squaring off at nearby Reed Park to settle their differences. There was some talk of brass knuckles, pipes instead of pipe bombs, and other weapons of mass destruction, but none did I ever personally used or have used on me. No guns, crack, marijuana and the list goes on, and indeed, the times have changed.

 Yet, we’ve solved so many problems during this same period of time. Great depressions can now be avoided and the means utilized can be seen debated in the form of bumper stickers. Many forms of Cancer can now be cured and I’m living proof of that. We have the technology to put men on the moon and space travel is no longer a big deal. Computers which used to fill a room can now be balanced in your lap; and your wife can track you down wherever you are via a cell phone or worse yet a smart phone….Thank God for caller ID.

 Yet our politicians and leaders resemble kids fighting over toys in a sand box. The rural areas of our country, just like this one, are growing by leaps and bounds due to the exodus from the metro areas fueled by its crime rate and more. More energy is expended in covering one’s backside than in addressing a specific problem. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times but I hope not.

 But regardless of all the issues we can find to complain about, we still reside in the greatest nation on earth. This same huge pot, which brought together so many different nationalities to form our nation, still has a lot of work to do. There are problems to be addressed and solutions to be found.

 This Thanksgiving might we all give thanks to the courage and sacrifices made by those who came before us to insure our way of life. Let’s just hope that future generations will have reason to give a similar salute to the current caretakers of the greatest nation ever formed. As we gather round that table to give thanks, enjoy our family and friends and enjoy the feast, let’s all pray for the custodians of our nation regardless of their political or religious persuasion.

 See Ya’ Around the Pond!!