Show perpetuate PERFETUA TE GRATITUDE the occasion which we ve will celebrate this thursday is the preservation of the lives of our forefathers in a new untamed wilderness it was out of sincere gratitude grat iture to an omnipotent power that thanks iriving day was first observed by our pilgrim pi 1 fathers its inception as a national holiday came out of a humble desire that their posterity should recall at least once a year a bounteous harvest that made them able to establish themselves in their new land their thanks was vas directed toward th divinity who had tempered the elements for their benefit and had made it possible to for them to survive the savage onslaughts of the native indians do we perhaps lose sight of the true significance of thanksgiving do we actually observe it as a day for giving thanks to the supreme being of the universe for the bounties of nature and the freedom that we enjoy too often the real spirit of humble gratitude is relegated to the background amidst the festivities and gay times of the holiday it has become for many of us a time when our standards are lowered just a little to allow for indulgences and gratification of tastes and passions without due regard or appreciation for our favored position our heritage bequeathed us by the pilgrim fathers who first observed this day as a day of thanks to carries with it certain responsibilities and obligations which must be respected if we are to enjoy the freedom and liberty of life as ve om know it the founders of this nation were conscious of their obligations to future generations when they set up the constitution and established the bill of rights our obligations to the children still unborn is just as real and perhaps even more clearly defined we 1116 are to carry on the tradition of Indus industry dry thrift and integrity that lis has come to us we are morally bound to keep this nation free from the entangling web of forces opposed to our democratic form of government it is our sacred duty to pass on to our children the structure of government free from burdensome debt it is their right to inherit from us a system that will wih not impede free enterprise with kith all the incentive that eliat there has always been for personal growth and achievement it is only when all these things are borne in mind and we are honestly striving for the perpetuation of tile the ideals and sacred rights our forefathers fought for that we ve are truly in harmony armony Ii with the spirit of thanksgiving |