Hardship, Friendship, and a Bright Future
 Dear friends, neighbors, and fellow pie-connoisseurs,
Picture this: It’s November 1621. You’ve survived shipwrecks, crop failures, hunger, and that unmistakable chill where even your socks tingle. You find yourself in a strange new land with fewer stores, fewer schools, and fewer doctors. Everything familiar is behind you; life is uncertain, uncomfortable, and wildly unpredictable. And now you face a decision—will you fixate on what you’ve lost, or savor what still remains? Will you look back with regret, or forward with hope?
The Pilgrims didn’t have a pristine Thanksgiving scene from a greeting card. They had wilderness. They had disease. They had hardship. Then, just when things looked bleakest, the Wampanoag tribe stepped in and befriended them—sharing their knowledge of planting in unfamiliar soil and bringing venison to a feast that stretched for days. What could have been isolation became friendship. What could have been starvation became community. What could have been despair became gratitude.
That spirit of gratitude has echoed throughout our nation's history. In 1789, when the ink on the Constitution was scarcely dry, President George Washington invited Americans to pause and publicly give thanks—“to acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God,” and to the “great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Washington wasn’t celebrating a nation without struggle. He was celebrating a people who recognized blessings even in the midst of uncertainty.
Centuries later, President John F. Kennedy reminded Americans that the true meaning of Thanksgiving “is not to give thanks merely for what we possess, but to thank God for His blessings to us as a nation and as a people.” He knew something generations before him had learned: gratitude is not a passive emotion—it is a posture of the heart. It is a way of seeing.
And in 1987, President Ronald Reagan returned to this theme, emphasizing that we are called to gratitude not only because of prosperity or comfort, but because of the enduring character of the American people. He reflected on how America’s “abundance is a blessing to be shared, not a commodity to be hoarded,” and how Thanksgiving asks each of us to look outward—to neighbors, to community, to the generations coming after us with generosity and humility.
And so it is for us today. Not every chapter in our story is pleasant, and the future won’t be perfectly smooth sailing. But each of us has the opportunity to serve one another—even people who don’t look, sound, or think quite the same way we do. We have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over our heads. Most of all, we have the ability to walk forward together, even in uncertain seasons. By God’s divine providence, we have a blessed way forward, just as those early settlers did around that first long table.
This Thanksgiving, may we be grateful not only for the harvest, but for those who helped us plant. May we celebrate the friendships, the neighbors, and the unexpected acts of kindness that carry us through the tougher stretches. And as you gather around the table—whether your turkey is golden perfection or slightly "over-enthusiastic"—may your heart be full, your home warm, and your hope renewed.
From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
With Gratitude,
Representative Steve Gander
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