In a year marked by political vitriol in seemingly every conversation, a relentless scourge of political violence and the highest-profile political assassination since 1968, Thanksgiving arrives just in time. Truthfully, it always does. And it always reminds us that long before Americans were addicted to constant clickbait-driven outrage, ours was a nation rooted in gratitude.
That sentiment can feel pretty unfamiliar — perhaps even foreign — these days. Our national political and cultural discourse, especially online, has degenerated into a permanent fever dream. Social media, which at its advent offered the promise of greater community and interpersonal connection, now thrives on the adrenaline rush of digital combat. Seemingly every news cycle and every social media feed brings more reason to believe America is splintering into warring political tribes.
Yet Thanksgiving, that most quintessential and timeless of American holidays, endures. Thanksgiving, and the broader holiday season that it kicks off, is our annual reminder that gratitude is not merely just one sentiment among many — it is our core, the glue holding us together. And the more we forget this, the more we risk an irrevocable national unraveling.
Consider how our current political climate erodes gratitude. Gratitude requires perspective, but perpetual outrage devours perspective. Gratitude necessitates humility, but algorithmically exacerbated confirmation bias destroys humility. Gratitude mandates presence with family, community and God, but the digital world keeps us frantic, aloof and distracted. Nothing about the ginned-up fractiousness of our politics and our ear-splitting online fracases encourages that healthier and more holistic view of our lives.
Thanksgiving season offers a respite from this Sturm und Drang. This time of the year forces us to step back from the outrage and the noise. It invites us to contemplate the blessings we did not necessarily think we earned and the duties we cannot necessarily avoid. It reminds us that America’s cultural inheritance — a shared moral vocabulary, a biblical framework for meaning, a commitment to the common good — is something we must preserve for the next generation.
It is telling that even in today’s environment, the cultural forces that often try to redefine other civic rituals have a much harder time rewriting a holiday that revolves around such basic staples as family, religious devotion and a shared dinner table. There is a reason for that resilience: the holiday’s elegant, time-tested simplicity.
America needs that simplicity — and common sense — more than ever. Family, community and faith remain the best antidotes to the widespread malaise and social breakdown of our age. The fall-winter holiday season harks back to an America that, while often riven and contentious, was always rooted in man’s permanent sources of meaning. And it is those same permanent sources of meaning that, if rediscovered and cherished anew, can still bring us back from the atomism, mass despondency and debilitating acrimony that define our political and cultural landscape today.
This holiday season, I’m thankful for my family — above all, my wife and our beautiful daughter, who is about to turn 1. I’m thankful for having found in recent years a resurgent commitment to the ancient religion of my forefathers. I’m thankful for my wonderful friends, who have helped serve as a stabilizing counter to the destructive political and social maladies of the day — some conspiratorial elements of which have targeted me personally. And I’m thankful to live in what still is, warts and all, the greatest country in the history of mankind.
Perhaps you may be thinking that you don’t necessarily have all these things in your own life right now. But you can change that. You can pursue a serious romantic relationship and get married. You can have children and form a family. You can make friends. You can discover, or rediscover, religion and the enduring wisdom found in scripture. And you can recognize, especially as we approach next July’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, everything about America that we ought to be thankful for.
Politics, policy and law are undoubtedly very important areas of public life. I have many strong opinions on these matters, and perhaps you do as well. But the mistake too many Americans are now making is to look at these areas as sources of meaning and fulfillment themselves. That is unhealthy: Politics, policy and law are false sources of meaning. Fortunately for us, the true sources of meaning still exist. Better yet, those bedrocks are as plentiful as ever. And this is the perfect time of the year to fall in love with them anew.
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. X: @josh_hammer
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