Most of us are probably double checking that the turkey is defrosting or that our reservations are set or that we have the right channel for the big game. We are looking forward to a day off work and a day spent how we like, surrounded by people we care for, enjoying a bountiful meal.
Most of us probably don’t know what it is like to be a refugee. Most of us probably don’t know what it is like to exist in a giant camp, with a flimsy tent protecting us from the cold and the rain. Most of us probably don’t wonder whether the aid workers will have enough supplies to offer us our daily meal. Most of us, thankfully, are not refugees.
Thanksgiving of 1943, Norman Rockwell painted this Refugee Thanksgiving cover for The Saturday Evening Post.
As we prepare to celebrate our abundance, our blessings, there are 65.3 million refugees*. This exceeds even the record number of displaced persons from World War II, the time of Rockwell's painting. There was a refugee team at the Olympics; if those 65.3 million people were a country, they would be the 21st most populated country. You might be surprised to learn that Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran have the greatest number of refugees they have allowed into their nations. The fourth on that list, Lebanon, a country of just 4 million, hosts 1.1 million refugees.
As we give thanks, may we remember those who are thankful merely to be alive, to have escaped war, torture, terror, and the specter of death. May we remember that we are called to welcome the stranger to our table, whether it be for a simple meal or a new home in our nation.
Let us give thanks for our blessings.
Let our actions be blessings to those without home or shelter or nation.
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