Giving Thanks

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john_passacantando

No moralizing, activist message today,  No corporate beating, politician pounding rant.  If your'e lucky you'll soon be with friends and family for a still uncommercialized holiday, Thanksgiving.  While some of you may be working the double overtime shift on newsdesks or running emergency rooms or pumping gas for those of us going to see Grandma, the Native American message below is simply lovely and can work across great diversity: or so I hope as I plan to use it around a Thanksgiving dinner table to include Jews, Christians, atheists, Taoists and assorted undeclaredes.  I hope you enjoy it.  John

 

"Giving Thanks" is a Native American good morning message but reads as a prayer.  The book is by Chief Jake Swamp, illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr. 

To be a human being is an honor, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.

Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.

Thank you, deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.

We give thanks to green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth's floor.

Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry.

Fruits and berries, we thank you for your color and sweetness.  We are all thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.

Thank you, all the animals in the world, for keeping our precious forests clean.  All the trees in the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us.  Thank you, all the birds in the world, for singing your beautiful songs for all to enjoy.

We give thanks to you, gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from the four directions.

Thank you, Grandfather Thunder Beings, for bringing rains to help all living things grow.

Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.

Thank you, Grandmother Moon, for growing full every month to light the darkness for children and sparkling waters.

We give thanks, twinkling stars, for making the night sky so beautiful and for sprinkling morning dew drops on the plants.

Spirit Protectors of our past and present, we thank you for showing us ways to live in peace and harmony with one another.

And most of all, thank you, Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts, so we will be happy and healthy every day and every night.

 
(Chief Jake Swamp is a founder of the Tree of Peace Society, an international organization promoting peace and conservation.  Chief Swamp has delivered the Thanksgiving Address throughout the world, as well as at the United Nations.  He was born on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York, and now lives in Hogansburg, NY.)

 

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