The message of Thanksgiving is in how we deal with human problems

This is the time of year when we recall the familiar story about what we know as the first Thanksgiving, held in the autumn of 1621 at the English settlement of Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.

The narrative depicts a peaceful and plentiful meal shared by English settlers and American Indians brought together, despite their differences in language and culture, through the language skills of a member of the Patuxet tribe known as Tisquantum, or “Squanto.”

The story is frequently used to evoke gratitude for abstract ideals that Americans have historically valued as unifying.

These include such values as equality, religion, entrepreneurism, hard work and individual initiative.

The intended point is that these abstract and universal values can bridge cultural differences and provide prosperity when they are articulated in a common language.

The subsequent and sad history of relations between American Indians and later comers to America, fraught with violent displacement, wars and genocide, give warrant that these abstract and universal values have not in themselves brought unity among people of different cultures.

In fact, I venture to say that Squanto did not appeal to abstract values to bring the American Indians and Pilgrims together.

Squanto realized through his prior experiences — including capture, exile and return — the basic human truth that we don’t live in the world by ourselves but share it with others who are both like and unlike us.

In this reality we find ways to solve our common problems by thinking and working together.

So often these days, we are told what we should think and what values we should hold.

We then take these abstract ideals and impose them on reality, and we find that they don’t always fit as we think they should.

At the time of the first Thanksgiving, abstract ideals did not govern the way people lived.

However, these people did know through their struggles that certain virtues must shape their actions if they were to live good human lives and flourish in community.

Each of us must understand that the problems of human beings are not abstract. Those problems are very real.

They include problems like forced displacement as refugees, unemployment, family stress from immigration, poverty, illiteracy, limited access to healthcare, unplanned pregnancy and criminal violence.

Such problems must be faced with courage, discussed and deliberated with thoughtfulness. The solution reached must touch all, especially the most vulnerable, with justice and respect.

If fear dictates what our problems are and what ideals we must hold, we wall off other human beings at a distance and respond to them only in the abstract convenience of our minds.

However, if we begin to face reality’s problems as collaborators in the human venture, then we will reach solutions that allow us to appreciate and respect those with whom we live and work.

We might have both justice and peace instead of apathy and agitation.

The mystery of politics and human life is that a plurality of very different persons can work together to discover our common humanity. Our differences both enrich and unite us.

Perhaps that is the real message of Thanksgiving.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "The message of Thanksgiving is in how we deal with human problems."