« Picking Up Papers~"Candidate Nominating Petition" | Main | Dan Challener Speaks to East Ridge Education Committee »
November 24, 2005
Politics, Women, & the Mother of Thanksgiving
Sara Josepha Hale, Mother of Thanksgiving
It took 30 years and lots of lobbying to put Thanksgiving on the map. President Lincoln first recognized it as the last Thursday in November in 1863 in the middle of a terrible and bloody Civil War.
And the lobbyist for something so generous to the country? Sarah Josepha Hale, a woman of course. God bless this woman! She's made my Novembers memorable and festive, believe me. Yours too, I'm sure. Put another way~I can't think of November without lots of family together eating turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Doesn't it often take women like Hale to bring us together as family and community?
Believe me, the women in my family get sweetly carried away at this time of the year. With all of my siblings and their spouses and children here, I watch the women walk about with a goody in one hand and a baby in the other, smiling as pretty as you may. And from now until Christmas, it's my mother's, my mother-in-law's, my sister's, my sister-in-law's, my niece's and my wife's time. But don't mess with it! I love it.
Is it a surprise that Thanksgiving all started with a woman lobbying president after president for 30 years? Let's be thankful for the enduring spirit of Sarah Josepha Hale, who was editor of Godey's Lady's Book in the 1800s. She is now our Mother of Thanksgiving. And although the holiday was not nationalized permanently by Congress until 1941, Thanksgiving as a national holiday started with the action of a demanding and loving woman.
Women (and men) can make a difference by being persistent, just as Sarah Josepha Hale was. She has taught us the lesson of political stamina and focus. We can make a difference in our civic life, as long as we have constancy and hope.
Happy Thanksgiving!
John Bailes
| By wjbailes | 07:36 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://chattablogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/27559
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Politics, Women, & the Mother of Thanksgiving:
