Amid divisions and fears, we count blessings and give thanks

Americans by the tens of millions are traveling by train, by air or, most often, by car, gathering this week for a day of Thanksgiving. It is a tradition even older than the United States, and a day that we Americans treasure highly. Every school child knows the story of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and how the Pilgrims invited some members of the Wampanoag Indian tribe to a feast in November 1621. The Indians had essentially saved the lives of the Europeans by helping them harvest native plants and hunt for game.