America is on the go again. The FAA expects air travel this Thanksgiving week to be the busiest in 15 years. There was a flood of last-minute bookings this past week, as it was previously projected to have a 3% decline compared to last year. The government re-opening likely played a big role. In total, 82 Million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more this Thanksgiving. The Holiday Season is upon us.
Some Americans won’t be coming home for Thanksgiving. With over 200,000 active service men and women overseas, many of them will be celebrating Thanksgiving with their fellow brothers and sisters on a military base. The commitment to duty is what keeps us safe. Honor is respect. Appreciation is understanding. We are so fortunate to have these fellow Americans.
The first Thanksgiving is commonly believed to have taken place in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621. 102 pilgrims reached the New World on the Mayflower the prior year. Half of them died that winter. Survivors celebrated a successful harvest and survival over a 3 day period. They were accompanied by members of the native Wampanoag tribe.
Wild fowl was reportedly on the menu, in addition to seafood and venison along with various crops. However, Turkey didn’t become the featured Thanksgiving entree until the 1800s. A lady named Sarah Josepha Hale is believed to be responsible for that.
Sarah Hale was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, one of the most popular magazines in the country. She spent decades lobbying Presidents and Governors for a unified annual day of thanks. Hale campaigned for a national Thanksgiving, featuring roast turkey, stuffing, and pies. Her quest was secured with Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. The tradition began.
Today, Thanksgiving is about family, food, football and shopping. It’s big business in America. For most retailers, over one-third of annual sales come in the months of November and December. Black Friday takes its name as the day most retailers finally turn a profit for the year. Their books go from in the red into the black. Hence, Black Friday. How about this: 15% of that annual spending comes just in the 5 days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. It’s a shopping frenzy.
Would you believe, with a global population of over 8 Billion, the largest in human history, we as a people are less than 10% of all that ever walked the Earth? There have been nearly 10,000 generations of Homo sapiens estimated to have lived, dating back 250,000 years. Think about all of the things that have occurred prior to your birth.
It’s important to appreciate those who came before us and learn from both successes and failures. The past is really our most credible source in understanding the present and anticipating the future. History is not just studying the past. It’s how we study places and people and time itself.
The vast majority of people before us didn’t live as long, nor enjoy the comforts of our modern lifestyles. So many things that we have, people before us couldn’t have even dreamed. Basics like indoor plumbing and refrigeration haven’t always been a thing.
Of course, we live by a different set of norms than prior generations. And people are far from perfect. Progress is designed to learn from the past which is why it’s complicated and often misguided to judge past people by present protocols. It’s impossible for us to feel and experience what they did. It’s purely imagination. But if we can imagine it, that gets us closer to understanding it.
Here’s a challenge: Try to tell stories this Thanksgiving. Tell your loved ones, family and friends, stories about you and your family from the past. It’s a way for those treasured people no longer with us to be honored and their legacies carried forward by your kids and grandkids for generations to come. It’s the surest way to make people from the past matter in the present. For without them, there’s no us.
In the days when Artificial Intelligence is taking over the conversation, Human Intelligence needs to make a comeback. That’s my opinion of course, but I’m convinced it’s fact. I bet I’m not alone in that.
There’s a big difference between intelligence and wisdom. The way I see it, Wisdom = Knowledge x Age. We need more of these people in our lives. Machines might be intelligent. But smart, experienced people are wise. It’s a very human trait. Unfortunately, too much wisdom dies every day without passing it on. We need to listen to the words of the wise.
Everyone loves a good story. The sooner you tell people’s stories, the sooner they’ll start telling yours. Of course there’s bias involved. Good stories always get embellished a bit, or even a lot. But shouldn’t that always be the way? It makes it more fun. There’s so much negative stuff going around to fill cable news and social media. Let’s shine more light on the good.
Bedell Frazier is committed to investing for a better tomorrow. It’s our professional purpose. We like being in the people business. Learning from yesterday is a valuable tool used to anticipate what tomorrow brings. We’re ready for whatever comes our way.
Happy Thanksgiving. We are so very thankful for YOU. It is you who is our why. Have a nice weekend. We’ll be back, dark and early on Monday.
Mike
