Looking Back: Thanksgiving 1946
See the full front page of the Wednesday, November 27, 1946 Paso Robles Journal
Excerpt from the Paso Robles Journal, Wednesday, November 27, 1946.
It’s a good thing that we have a special day for thanksgiving every year. And we should use the occasion not merely for feasting and fun but to quietly contemplate the many things we have to be grateful for.
Too many of us are inclined to accept the benefits and blessings of our experience as a matter of course but we complain loudly and more or less constantly about its unpleasant phases.
Although we live in an age of great material comforts and conveniences life is not easy. We have passed through trying years of war. We face trying years of peace. Economics, politics, international relations, family and social life all pose problems which press insistently for solution.
But despite all this the good far outweighs the bad. We must not forget, for instance, that in the recent war our land was untouched by its violence. Our families were never subjected to sudden death from the sky, our homes were not demolished nor our fields scarred by the fury of battle.
For this alone we should be thankful not just on one day of the year but on every day.
Since V-J Day the dire predictions of large unemployment and depressed economic conditions hove not materialized. On the contrary, there are still more jobs than men to fill them, and our Nation continues prosperous. This, too, is cause for gratitude.
Yes, the very fact that we are Americans and live in this rich productive land of ours, enjoying a freedom of speech and actions such as few nations have today, is in itself something that calls for deep thanks.
May we as individuals and as a nation cultivate thanksgiving as a daily habit rather than limit it to a special ceremony on a special day. By so doing we shall make ourselves better citizens, our Nation a better nation, our world a better world.
View previous Looking Back articles
- Looking Back: A snapshot of local support for WWI from Oct 1918
- Looking Back: Halloween 1924
- Looking Back: Paderewski Buys Ranch
- Looking Back: San Miguel Mission Celebration in 1930
- Looking Back: Pioneer Day Celebration in 1936
This “Looking Back” view at Paso Robles history comes from one of the hundreds of local newspapers in the Paso Robles Area Historical Society collection. At least 18 local newspapers, dating from the 1800s, have reported on local, national and world events, providing priceless historical views of our community that are not available from any other source. The Historical Society is seeking community support for the multi-phased Newspaper Preservation Project to help fund the transfer of these aged and fragile pages to microfilm and digital images. See the society website for more information about becoming a member or donating to any phase of this project.
The Paso Robles Daily News is pleased to support this important project. Watch this space for future “Looking Back” articles.
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