X-Message-Number: 20516
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: "THANKSGIVING 2002: Reality Prayer"
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 23:04:23 -0800

This is kind of off-topic, but I think it's time to develop rationally 
defensible holidays to replace ones based on superstition. Besides, if you 
have set aside a day to thank supernatural powers, instead of human efforts, 
for the advantages you enjoy in life, then logically you should also observe 
a day to express your grievances towards the supernatural powers for all the 
bad aspects of human existence. But theists seem singularly reluctant to 
explore this implication of their own beliefs. -- MP.

http://www.objectiveamerican.com/printershow.cfm?id=1257

Thursday, November 28, 2002
THANKSGIVING 2002: Reality Prayer
By E.G. Ross, Editor
[W]hat we must fight for is the supremacy of reason, and a view of man as a 
rational being.
 Ayn Rand

WHEN PEOPLE in the U.S. give thanks on Thanksgiving, which is today, I 
myself do it in an unconventional way. The idea first occurred to me when I 
was a little kid. I remember sitting around the table as Grandma Ross said 
grace over a sumptuous meal. She gave thanks to "the Lord" for all the food 
and goodies. I used to wonder quietly, "But wait a minute! Grandma, Grandpa, 
Dad, and Mom bought all this stuff. Why aren't we thanking them?" I knew I 
dared not voice this view. Grandma and Grandpa were staunch, Midwestern 
Christians, and Mother was an Old World Catholic. My father, however, was a 
Doubting Thomas. I remember asking him about it later. He grinned and said 
something like, "Well, that's a darned good question." He didn't directly 
endorse my point of view, but on the other hand, neither did he deny it or 
run me over the coals for thinking "impure" thoughts. From that day on, 
whenever Thanksgiving rolled around, after grace I would add a silent thanks 
in my mind for anyone I could think of who might have had something to do 
with providing the food and trimmings. I've carried the concept into 
adulthood, expanded it, and passed it on to readers. Many now use it in 
their homes. Maybe you'd like to, as well. It goes like this:


Reality Prayer of Thanks
ON THIS DAY of bounty in this wonderful land of America, let us remember how 
we got here. Let us recall the strong shoulders on which we stand. Let us 
thank the Founders for their vision in devising the greatest Constitution 
that the world has ever known. Let us thank them, and their intellectual 
ancestors, for grasping the principles of liberty and seizing the chance to 
preserve and protect them in the creation of this country. Let us thank all 
of those men and women with the vision and vitality to hold and enhance this 
brilliant experiment in freedom. Let us also thank our warriors, hundreds of 
thousands of whom work daily, quietly, often in deadly circumstances, to 
keep our nation's liberty alive. Let us thank all the pioneers, inventors, 
industrialists, teachers, laborers, entrepreneurs, and financiers who 
directly and indirectly produced the marvelous technology and techniques 
that make our age of prosperity possible. Finally but not least let us thank 
ourselves for the work, courage, and dedication to preserving our personal 
values and the framing principles of America that bring us and others the 
finest opportunities for happiness and advancement that mankind has ever 
known.



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