Possum Philosophy: Poverty is not a crime

“To be a Virginian, either by birth, marriage, adoption, or even on one’s mother’s side, is an introduction to any state in the Union, a passport to any foreign country, and a benediction from the Almighty God.“
—This quote used to hang above the desk of my friend and former editor Tim Thornton. Neither of us is sure from whom it originated, but both of us being native sons of the Old Dominion, love it.

By ROBERT CAHILL/Columnist

OK boys and girls, time for a little history lesson, Thanksgiving history that is. So please take out your fourth-grade history text, and lay it aside, Why? Because its typical description of the happy Pilgrims and the friendly Indians having this huge feast to give thanks for the good fortune of the past year and planning a repeat every year afterward is malarkey. Yes, I said it, your trusty text of history speaketh not the truth. At least not about this holiday.
As a native-born Virginian, I feel obligated to point out the truth about our holiday, Thanksgiving. That truth being that the first true Thanksgiving in the New World, according to the Web site http://www.virginia.org, at least the one that resembled the holiday we now celebrate, was a brief ceremony held at the place now known as Berkeley Plantation. On Dec. 4, 1619, a troop of some 38 men led by Captain John Woodlief arrived at a grassy knoll on the banks of the James River, fell to their knees and offered up this prayer of thanks for their safe passage and arrival here.
These hardy colonists recited the following prayer, “Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.“
Even before the landing, according to an article written by Ross McKenzie of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the officials of the London Company, which owned thousands of acres in the area where Berkeley Plantation would eventually flourish and which sponsored Woodlief and his fellow adventurers on their trip, had written instructions for the colonists to follow upon their arrival here.
Part of the instructions read “…We ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
Now as you historical scholars will surely note, this Thanksgiving was one year and 17 days before those dour folks, the Pilgrims, arrived in what would become Massachusetts. (At the time most of the eastern seaboard of the U.S. was designated as part of the Virginia Colony so they were actually some of the earliest Northern Virginians.) You will also kindly underline the part that says the event “…shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.” Now if that doesn’t knock the frost off the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving pumpkin, I don’t know what would.
You see, the Pilgrims did indeed hold a celebration in autumn of 1621. And no doubt they were thankful for having survived as long as they did, for making friends with some of the indigenous population of Native Americans and for a relatively good harvest. But it was apparently a normal harvest festival as they would have celebrated had they remained in England. And there was no mention of their planning it to be an annual get-together.
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org), the Pilgrims did recognize a day of Thanksgiving, which was a much more formal religious ceremony of lengthy prayers and worship. And in fact eventually, sometime apparently in mid-summer of 1623 held such a celebration which consisted of a lot more solemnity and praying and a lot less revelry and what we would consider as partying.
This year many of us have much for which to be thankful. I know I do. I am thankful for my family and good friends. I am thankful for many other things as well, things such as enough to eat, a roof over our heads, the comfort of friends and family. Yet many more are struggling, according to Pat Arnold, director of Smyth County’s Department of Social Services.
Arnold and I have been friends since early childhood. In my opinion he is the perfect person to occupy this position. He is kind and friendly, highly intelligent, well-educated and empathetic to the folks in need of his agency’s help. According to Arnold, more Smyth County residents are struggling now than any time in his more than 30 years at the agency, particularly in the area of food sufficiency.
In October of this year, 6,047 individuals received help from the agency’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (the program formerly known as the Food Stamp Program and yes it is the government so go figure why the name change). Arnold said the really shocking fact is that this is close to 20 percent of the population of Smyth County. Think about this folks. Almost one in every five residents of Smyth County now requires help affording enough food.
“I’ve spoken with several area food banks,” Arnold said. “They are being swamped as well. The thing that bothers me is we are seeing people now who may have participated in our food programs years ago, many years ago. Now, sadly, they once again need help keeping themselves and their families fed.”
These are our friends, our neighbors. They need our help. No doubt many of them could not have imagined being in the position of struggling just to feed their family. Many have likely donated to programs such as community food banks in the past. As I have often noted, poverty is not a crime. It is social condition and a sad fact of life for many of us who make their home and lives here in the Southern Highlands of Virginia.
So this year, as way of showing how truly thankful each of us is, let us be as generous as possible in helping with the plight of our fellow citizens. Let us forgo eating until we are gorged. Let us instead eat a reasonable amount and donate the money saved in extra groceries we won’t need to buy to any of the various programs that will be helping those who otherwise might not even get that first helping, much less the third or fourth.
Think of it this way, if you cut 20 percent off your grocery bills for the season, you could donate the savings to a food bank and perhaps help a fellow citizen have enough food for their family. After all, one in five, or 20 percent, of Smyth County residents really need our help. Eating less and giving more will not only be good for our health, it will be good for our soul as well. 
May each of you good folks who read this column enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving. May your home be filled with the aroma of good food, the sounds of joyous harmony and the warmth of family and friends. And may each of us help those less fortunate to enjoy the same. Here’s wishing each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season.

A freelance journalist, Robert “Rocky” Cahill writes regularly for the News & Messenger. His Possum Philosophy column appears in each Saturday edition.