While the first Thanksgiving focuses on the Pilgrims giving thanks while in tough circumstances, the holiday makes me think of a selection from the biography of John Adams, written by David McCullough. Adams and his wife Abigail were often separated for weeks at a time as he rode to and from Boston and Philadelphia and then sailed to France and endured illness in the Netherlands while the war raged in the Colonies.
This shortened version doesn’t do justice to the hardships and courage needed to form a new country and a system of government that could be as close to the people as possible. I constantly a selection of the book during an exchange of letters when Abigail comments to Adams that future generations won’t know the hardships they endured.
The paraphrase doesn’t do the work justice but those who come after and enjoy success won’t likely appreciate all the ways in which the predecessors and those around us made present life more comfortable.
I’m grateful for those who have sacrificed so that we can enjoy what we have today.
Don Simkovich
Don Simkovich 
Posted on November 27, 2014
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