Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. Although a few other countries have a national day for prayer or thankfulness, nothing truly resembles our Thanksgiving Day.

Europe, with its more established countries, scoffs at such a notion of commemorating the virtue or emotion of thanksgiving. They might celebrate national accomplishments like successful harvests, vanquishing enemies, and religious observations. A day for thanksgiving related to the passing of a particular calamity might occur occasionally, but having an annual, nationally observed day is only something the brash, provincial, unsophisticated Americans would do. It seems against the dignity of a strong country to cancel work and devote a day to appreciation.

To be thankful is to acknowledge vulnerability. Giving thanks no

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