Dan

Calabrese

Read Dan's bio and previous columns here

November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving: The Unique and Unheralded Blessings of America

Are you thankful for the blessings that others enjoy? Are you thankful for the fact that your own blessings come with responsibilities?

If so, yours is a uniquely American brand of gratitude.

Gratitude is often defined as mere thankfulness for one’s own good fortune, which is certainly appropriate as far as it goes. But American gratitude, if it is to be complete, must extend well beyond the bounds of one’s own personal well-being, and indeed, beyond the prosperity of the nation as a whole.

American blessings are unique on the world stage for many reasons, and oft-cited blessings like liberty and abundance have surely enjoyed their share of thanks. But many nations have freedom and abundance. They don’t have it like we have it, but these blessings are hardly unique to America.

Where America is different, and in my estimation far more greatly blessed, is where we turn the notions of blessing and gratitude on their ears.

America is called the land of opportunity for good reason. Ours is a unique proposition. We do not have anywhere near the extensive welfare state of many other nations, including some of our closest allies. What we do have, however, is a standing offer to every citizen that, if you can effectively access opportunity, there is no limit to what our society will allow you to achieve, and no limit to the rewards you can enjoy for these achievements.

The rich/poor divide in America is not caused by denial of opportunity to certain people. It is caused by the fact that too many people do not understand how to access opportunity, and indeed, resent those who have done so.

But in America, another person’s abundance can become your ticket to abundance. People who have enjoyed financial success in America have not done so by saving up their welfare checks. They have done so by identifying market needs and opportunities, and developing a product or service that could fulfill those needs and grab hold of those opportunities.

Entrepreneurialism is the most romanticized way to do this, but it is far from the only way. The auto worker who has given his blood and sweat for 25 years can find someone else out there who might need him more, and pay him more. The single mother with no college degree, but a good head on her shoulders and a solid work ethic, can find someone who will give her a chance, and can make the most of it.

But you can’t find someone who will give you a chance if you can’t first find someone who has the means, which is why you should give thanks for other people’s blessings. The more they have – and the more the government refrains from confiscating – the more capable they are of providing an opportunity to you.

You may also feel grateful for the fact that many successful people are happy to offer opportunities to others. It is a positive part of the human experience to share your abundance, and in America this is done most effectively when the person sharing can also profit from the arrangement.

The other uniquely American blessing is the fact that our freedom comes with strings attached. The Bill of Rights is not conditional, but the overall proposition of citizenship is. Americans have to work hard. We have to keep our promises. We have to be responsible for ourselves. It seems a growing number is testing these propositions by shirking these responsibilities, and at times it seems there is little consequence to them for doing so.

But that’s not true. Those who have failed to uphold these responsibilities are also those who resent the success of others. There is a difference between a poor person who is working hard but needs a little help, and a poor person who looks at rich people and becomes consumed with what he thinks is the unfairness of it all. I would not want to live like that. I would not be a happy person. That is a daunting consequence.

I would also not want to live in country whose blessings – be they economic abundance or political freedom – come with no strings attached. Americans have had to work hard for 231 years to protect this land’s blessings. Today, one of our hot-button political issues is what to do about all the people who will do anything to come here. Some Americans sound angry when they discuss this issue.

But we could have worse problems than to live in a country that can’t seem to keep people out. Today is a day of gratitude to God for our own blessings, but perhaps even more so for the blessings of others – and most of all for the responsibilities that accompany both ours and theirs. They make our character as a nation complete, and are the best tool we have to ensure that America will long bless us.

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