It's a good day for a parade.

In my post title on this Thanksgiving Day, I'm not thinking of that silly talent show they call a parade in Manhattan. That thing has been completely mutated into an ad for Broadway and Black Friday events and nothing else. I'm sorry anyone bothers; I'd far rather go to any tiny town's Thanksgiving Parade today than spend a minute at the one in midtown.

That aside, it is a good day for a parade. Thanksgiving and gratitude seem to go with solemnity and contemplation, but it ought to go with exuberance and joy as well. Hallelujah! What a great place to live. What great thanks we owe to God, "that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be" (as George Washington wrote). And what thanks we owe to those who secured our liberties with sweat and sacrifice. We have a tendency to think that things are easy once they've been accomplished, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

As President Reagan declared in 1985:

In this season of Thanksgiving we are grateful for our abundant harvests and the productivity of our industries; for the discoveries of our laboratories; for the researches of our scientists and scholars; for the achievements of our artists, musicians, writers, clergy, teachers, physicians, businessmen, engineers, public servants, farmers, mechanics, artisans, and workers of every sort whose honest toil of mind and body in a free land rewards them and their families and enriches our entire Nation.
     Let us thank God for our families, friends, and neighbors, and for the joy of this very festival we celebrate in His name. Let every house of worship in the land and every home and every heart be filled with the spirit of gratitude and praise and love on this Thanksgiving Day.

Enjoy this great day, America!