Every week, Features Editor Ashton Leber hits the archives and finds old Signals that relate to current College topics and top stories.
For most college students, Thanksgiving break is a time to unwind, relax with family and prepare for the final stretch of the fall semester. Although many students are excited for endless amounts of food and a break from homework, we often forget what the holiday is truly about. Thanksgiving is about appreciating the blessings in your life, such as an education from the College or having food on the dinner table every night. In 1949, one student wrote about the history of Thanksgiving and reminded students that they should be thankful. It’s hard to believe that there once was a time before iPhones, and enjoying something we take for granted today like going to the movies was a fun activity amongst friends. This holiday season, what are you thankful for?
Thanksgiving is the most distinctly American holiday that is celebrated in the United States.
It was President Lincoln who issued the first national Thanksgiving Proclamation setting aside the last Thursday in November. Up to this view of our 20th Century Atomic Age. They are afraid of a terrible war that may destroy all mankind. They point to man’s cruelty and intolerance toward his fellow man, and to the dictators who have enslaved millions into misery.
Wars, cruelty and intolerance are not peculiar to this age, but to all ages. We are making real progress toward eliminating these evils. The brotherhood of man may not be just around the corner, but we are moving faster in that direction than we ever have before.
Here in the United States, we are still jealously guarding our freedom. We can think and read what we want, and say what we please.
Freedom of worship is a full-fledged fact today. Though the Pilgrims came to the New World to escape religious persecution, they were soon persecuting each other for taking up new beliefs. In 1949, Americans worship God as they please in their churches and synagogues.
Life in the United States today is not all chores and toll, as it was in the Pilgrims’ time. After work or study, we can find time to relax, listening to fine music, reading, pursuing our favorite hobby, or going to a movie. On Saturday afternoons at this time of year, millions of people flock to football games to enjoy this sport.
If Mary Chilton and the Pilgrims could return among us today, they would feel bewildered and lost. Their life was simple and crude — a desperately hard struggle to keep body and soul together.
Ours, on the other hand, is an age of almost miraculous progress in every direction.
