wfn.org | Editorial: Thanksgiving – a season to thank and give

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3012 Edition

>November 16~22, 2009

Editorial: Thanksgiving – a season to thank and give

>Translated by Lydia Ma

In 1620, a band of Puritans and their families

embarked on the Mayflower in pursuit of religious

freedoms and in hopes of seeking God’s kingdom and

righteousness. This band of 102 people sailed across

the Atlantic to the continent of America, but more than

half of them died from starvation and infectious

>diseases during their first year in the US.

With help from Aborigines in the area who offered

them generous hospitality, these Puritans were able to

slowly settle into their new homes. Native Americans

>also taught them how to survive in this new

environment and passed on to them new skills such as

building houses, planting crops, catching fish, and

>hunting. Aborigines shared their own personal

experiences and all that they had with their new

>European friends.

During the second year’s harvest season, the lives of

these Puritans improved noticeably, as evidenced by

>their abundant harvest. To thank God for such

blessings and to express gratitude to Aborigines who

had helped them along the way, Puritans held a feast

for three days and shared all they had harvested with

Aborigines. Massasoit, an Aborigine elder, gave

>Puritans 5 deer as gifts from Wamapanoag

Aborigines. They also signed a peace accord and

Aborigines agreed to help new immigrants settle into

Plymouth and build new homes. The celebration and

>the peace agreement later became known as

>Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Puritans and

Aborigines took a tragic and violent turn in later years.

Though the Puritans sought to live by the motto “In God

we trust”, their new lives actually mirrored more closely

the words of the Apostle Paul, “What I want to do I

don’t do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15). What

began as an amicable relationship later dissolved into

>bloodshed and war.

>In 1850, a Seattle chieftain speaking on the

colonization of America reflected that perhaps

Europeans thought they could take someone else’s

land just because they thought God was on their side.

However, this perspective was terribly wrong because

God was Lord of all nations and God’s mercy rested

>on Aborigine people and White people alike.

If it is any consolation, Americans later adopted

Thanksgiving as part of their national holidays and

years later confessed that their ancestors were wrong

in the way they had treated Aborigines and African

Americans. But, looking back in history, we can still

see instances of Aborigines being relegated to the

margins of society when Europeans began building

capitalist countries in the continent of America, and we

see the same pattern occurring in Taiwan’s history as well.

Can Taiwanese people take a lesson or two from

Americans during this season and learn to thank and

give? In the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, Aborigines

need our help in rebuilding their homes. Can we, with

thanksgiving and repentance in our hearts for all that

has happened in the past, give them a hand? Let us

bring to life what God has written in Psalm 113, “He

raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from

the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the

>princes of their people.”

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