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We've just finished celebrating Thanksgiving, our country's first national holiday. It is an observance that reminds us of
some of our best qualities.
Thanksgiving has its roots in the first winter of 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when our Pilgrim ancestors settled
as illegal immigrants on this continent. The memoir of Edward Winslow tells of a three day festival that the 52 surviving
aliens from England celebrated with their resident neighbors. Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag people brought 90 companions
and at least five deer to share in a harvest festival with the minority newcomers. There is always something sacred and uniting
about sharing a meal. It reminds us of our common humanity and creates powerful bonds of friendship and identity.
The small band of vulnerable foreigners were looking for a better life for their families. Their relationship with the
native residents was complicated, but the hospitality of the Wampanoag and others proved life-saving in those first dangerous
years.
I've wondered how different our American history might have been if we could have sustained the fellowship reflected in
that first feast. What if Native Americans could have shared their love and respect for this land with us, and what if we
could have managed our settlements with a friendship and respect toward those people who were already here? So much violence
might have been averted. Could we have avoided the genocide and ethnic cleansing that characterized our arrivals? Maybe
we could have learned from them how to treat the land with more reverence and prevented some of the environmental catastrophes
of our wanton exploitation.
What charity it took for Massasoit and his people to reach across the divide of race, culture, and religion to welcome
the strangers. They crossed powerful tribal lines with compassion. Recently I ran across a fascinating definition of tribe.
The Whidbey Institute uses the word "tribe" in a unique way. They say a tribe exists wherever we would tolerate
for them what we would not tolerate for our own. When it is tolerable for them to be without food, shelter, medical care,
or education but it is intolerable for our own, we are acting tribally. When we teach that they will go to hell for their
religious values and practices and our own will go to heaven for ours, we create religious tribalism.
The Whidbey Institute used that definition of "tribe" to help interpret some research. Over a ten-year period
they studied one-hundred remarkable people who had been identified as "people who are able to sustain commitment to the
common good" in significant ways over time. They studied people we would think of as models of compassion and sacrifice.
The research discovered that every one of these one-hundred subjects had something in common. Every one of them had experienced
a constructive or a transforming encounter with "otherness." Each one of these remarkable people had a significant
encounter with someone or some group from another "tribe." They experienced both the suffering and the longings
of "the other." That experience transformed them into people living with a commitment to the common good, rather
than just a commitment to me and mine.
The compassion that comes from empathetically sharing the life of the other creates a spirit of reconciliation and generosity.
I think that's a good theme to remember as we enter another holiday season.
I hope Christians can be generous enough to accept that we are a nation of many faiths and customs. I hope we will refrain
from acting as if they are invisible and everyone celebrates Christmas. "Happy Holidays" is a good greeting in
the shops and public spaces. Save "Merry Christmas" for church and family. The most energetic "Merry Christmas"
I get is from my Jewish neighbor whom I greet with "Happy Hanukkah!" Be glad when school programs include Jewish
songs and African Kwanzaa traditions along with their carols and Santa music. Pride and arrogance are not traditional Christian
values. Christmas militancy betrays the spirit of the Prince of Peace.
We have a good traditional example to inspire us. Our generation can be as welcoming and generous as Massasoit. It's
the American way.
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