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Opinion
The Simple Gifts of Thanksgiving are Better Than Those That Come After
Don't let Black Friday and Cyber Monday dominate your thoughts this weekend
As I've gotten older, Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. One reason might be because most of my relatives are either dead or live too far away to show up at my house for dinner. But there's more to it than that, and I don't mean the holiday shopping orgy.
Right before Thanksgiving, when I was in grade school, our music teacher Mr. Ottesen taught us to sing the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts." I can't say if this was because Mr. O didn't know his Puritans from his Shakers. More likely, he couldn't endure launching into the fa-la-las until we were well into December.
In any case, it's a great little song about the virtue of simplicity, and in that sense, it is the perfect song for Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving itself is simple, and that's the real reason I like it so much.
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by…
