“Well… what are you thankful for?”

Even in the happiest times, a lot of people recoil at a Thanksgiving icebreaker that is as awkward as it is ubiquitous: “What are you thankful for?” This year, it might feel especially hard to name something.

I’ll admit that I have some serious concerns about where America is headed and what it means for democracy at home and for our friends in other free countries. But it’s actually in moments like this that we should choose to be thankful.

My colleague Chris got me thinking about this recently. He used to host Thanksgiving dinners while living abroad and would have to explain the holiday to his international friends. Chris reminded me that the first official American Thanksgiving wasn’t with the Pilgrims but during the Civil War.

It was 1863. The nation was torn apart. Just a few months earlier, the Union had won the Battle of Gettysburg at enormous human cost. Abraham Lincoln decided to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation, setting aside the last Thursday in November as a day for gratitude.

Lincoln didn’t sugarcoat the situation. He began by noting that the United States was “in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity.” Hardly something to be thankful for. But then he went on to list the things that were going well in the country outside of the war: a good harvest, peace with external enemies, the rule of law, and public order.

Even in the middle of a war on American soil, President Lincoln asked the nation to observe a moment of rest and join him in recognizing all that was going well in the country. He didn’t do this to avoid the ugly reality, but rather to remind Americans that if they had something to be thankful for, then they had something to fight for.

In a similar spirit, we can and should reflect on all that is going right in our country today. First and foremost, despite our next-level partisan rancor, we enjoy an enviable domestic peace. We still have the rule of law, a functioning judicial system, and the blessings of liberty. Americans live in a nation where safety and prosperity are the norm, not the exception.

Sometimes when I fall into a Twitter doomscrolling rabbit hole and lose hope, I try to snap myself out of it by remembering my own family’s experience. My parents came from the Soviet Union, a place where there was no freedom, horrific antisemitism, and few prospects. In short, even though things weren’t exactly great, they did not have the luxury of despair. Instead they underwent serious hardship to come to the US and provide me with opportunities that they never had.

The inspirational political dissidents who make up RDI’s Frontlines of Freedom network constantly reinforce this lesson for me: The very fact that we have things worth protecting is something to be thankful for and reason to fight another day.

As we move into 2025, our work is certainly cut out for us. But tomorrow, we’ll enjoy our turkey, mashed potatoes, and watching football with our loved ones.

OK… I’ll admit this might not be me: nerdy Soviet Jews aren’t exactly the NFL’s target demographic, and my family’s turkey is more likely to be served with borscht than with gravy, but that diversity is just another thing that makes America great, right?

So, it’s with gratitude for this and everything else that’s going right in our country today that all of us here at RDI wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Uriel Epshtein

CEO, Renew Democracy Initiative