Who and What Will You Give Thanks for Tomorrow? How about Native Americans?

This morning I referred to the First Thanksgiving. I have read the primary source account Of Plymouth Plantation by John Bradford, who was the first governor of the Plymouth Bay Colony and kept an extensive decades long journal, a semi-official record of the history of the colony. The insight is quite striking, and one must remember always that it is written with a definite bias.

I think about the life of those 50 colonists who survived that first winter. They would have been dead by the next if it were not for two Native Americans in particular, Squanto and Massasoit. It was Massasoit who came with 90 of his people to that First Thanksgiving in 1621. Yet time and again, they were referred to as savages.

How utterly brazen to come to someone else’s land and call them savage, to assume superiority over them, to judge them by the invaders’ laws and morals and standards. In fact, Native Americans did have many problems, as did the settlers. And all the problems stemmed from Ego operations in the mind and soul. The same is just as true with us today.

We judge one another, we judge those a half a world away, we judge those who hold different political and religious convictions, and we judge those who have a different skin color from us. We are offended by each other, feel angry, betrayed, and threatened by others because of these things. And every one of these responses derives from allowing Ego to control mind and soul.

If you read this tonight, I hope you consider this question. Tomorrow, for what will you give thanks? If you only give thanks for those who look like you, think like you, benefit you, or can be used by you, then you will limit great, miraculous wonders which could be drawn to you from eternal Spirit through those very unlike you.

However, Ego will never allow differences, divergencies to be accepted. Oh, Ego will accept those who are different, but only if they can be used for our convenience and profit. Although I don’t know exact numbers, I think it’s telling that Bradford in his accounts says again and again that the colonists gave thanks to God for everything, but rarely, if ever, does it say they thanked the Indians.

The Indians were considered agents, instruments to be used by God for the good of the colonists but never appreciated or thanked for who they were and what they did. Guess what? Many senseless conflicts ensued because White Europeans held the native population to their standards and judged them and punished them based on White standards. How stupid.

And even though Indians saved their lives and brought them food and information that continued to save their lives, the colonists disdained these people. How many more blessings might have come to them had they been thankful to the Indians instead of only God? We’ll never know.

But we do know that when the ego operating system is allowed to control mind and soul, thanksgiving is scanty and blessings are limited.

Again, I would ask us, myself included, What and Who are we thankful for? Stand firm, my Native American friends at Standing Rock, against the narrow-mindedness and ego cruelty of greedy oligarchs and their minions. I’m thankful for you.

​Blessings!