Some people will travel great distances to make this happen. They'll travel the crowded highways, they'll "enjoy" the hustle and bustle of crowded airports and other transportation complexes. All in the quest to be there with their family and friends to celebrate a great meal and great company.
But for some it is just another day, another day to try and cope with the everyday struggles that some people go through, through no fault of their own. Nobody actually asks to be poor, homeless, or lonely. It is those people who we have to think about.
Did you ever think that the first Thanksgiving was just that. That the participants, the Pilgrims, were the lonely, the homeless, and the dissolute? Think about it? First of all they came to the continent with nothing but what they could carry with them. The only food they had is what they brought. They stepped off the Pinnace that brought them ashore and onto the rock to assist them getting their feet on the new land.
Did they land in Plimoth (old English spelling)? Well not really, they actually landed in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod in November. They could not make it there so they set sail again and traveled farther North finally landing in Plimoth in December, 1620. So here they are standing on the beach and looking at the forest ahead of them. No shelter, no streets, no roads, they were now homeless. They were in dire need of help. Oh sure, they could chop down a few trees, and build a shelter. But anyone who has ever seen what these shelters looked like, with amazement, and wonder, "how did they survive the harsh winter?" Well the fact of the matter is that they did not do that well after all. A typical dwelling for the first Pilgrims was a simple structure comprised of sticks and twigs. It was not the log cabin one would have thought, there was not time enough to fell a tree, hand hewn the log and put together a sturdy structure. If anyone has ever been to the New England coast in December, it is brutal. The wind comes off of the ocean and travels right through a person. Winter coats, well not for them. There certainly was not any clothing that provided warmth like clothes of today. So they were forced to move inland.
There were 102 passengers on the Mayflower when it landed, and 45 would meet their demise in that first winter. Seven of those were children ranging in age from four to seventeen. There were thirteen woman and twenty-eight men. The first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims was Samoset who would not make contact until the following March, so until that time, the Pilgrims were strictly on their own. So here we are, the Pilgrims, Americas first homeless.
If Samoset did not make contact with them they surely would not have survived at all. The Pilgrims were very surprised that Samoset greeted them speaking English. Samoset was a Sagamore (stature) and was relocated from Maine by some English sailors. He was from the Eastern Abernaki tribe, which was not the natives of the Plimoth area. The local tribes were the Wampanoag and their chief was Massasoit. Samoset was on a journey to meet with Massasoit when he came across the Plimoth colony. He simply walked straight into the center of the village which certainly surprised them as they did not think there was anyone else living in the area. But back to the December time frame.......
They landed on December 16th and three days later after some exploring the local area, they came across an abandoned Indian village which was known as Pawtuxet. During those first three days they stayed aboard the ship as their place of shelter and they needed a more permanent place, and winter was setting in and the temperatures were dropping rapidly. In the village, there were a few dwellings there and they immediately took advantage of them and quickly moved in. Although they wondered where the inhabitants had gone, they were unaware that the entire village had been wiped out by a small pox epidemic that occurred earlier. This is a typical Wompanoag dwelling.
As you can see, it would have been a very cold place to spend a winter. So with that in mind, be thankful for what you have, not what you want. Think, that there are many people on the streets, who wish that they had what you have, no matter how small it is. What is their day going to be like today? Think of those elderly who have no one in their lives or family anymore, how their life is today, and how they will be spending this Thanksgiving day. Extend a hand, invite them in, provide a meal, and give thanks, thanks for what you have, thanks for your family, and thanks that you are not where they are and give help while you can, and when you can..........
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