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by Rod D. Martin
November 27, 2025
I’m Rod Martin, wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.
Setting aside a day of thanksgiving was one of the first things our forefathers did. They did so in gratitude to God, Who had preserved them through unbearable hardships. They did so in gratitude to their neighbors, local Indians who had helped them establish their settlement. And they did so in gratitude to one another, for innumerable kindnesses lost in the mists of history.
Gratitude is the defining characteristic of the Christian life. Gratitude is the very opposite of vice. If you’re grateful to God, you don’t want to sin. If you’re grateful to and for your family, you don’t mistreat them or abandon them. If you’re grateful to and for your fellowman, you do not covet, or lust, or steal, or murder, or oppress. Understanding that everything you have is grace, that even those things you’ve worked for required the help of others, is the wellspring of every virtue under Heaven.
America is unique not merely in recognizing these truths but acting upon them. Millions come to America, both legally and illegally, because America is not characterized by envy as so much of the world is, but rather by cheering for others’ successes. It’s a place where you don’t have to hide your gifts or talents for fear of others’ hate. It’s a land of hope, and opportunity, and endless endeavors aimed at doing well by doing good.
It’s easy to forget how special that is. But there’s a reason just 4% of the world’s population creates 26% of the world’s economy. It isn’t theft. It’s the security that comes from knowing your success will not be met with scorn or stealing. That creates an environment of openness rather than fear, one that encourages the pursuit of one’s own happiness as one defines it, not as someone else defines it for you.
The artsy girl who doesn’t care about money, the nursury worker who just wants to serve, the janitor working a second job because he dreams of sending his kids to college, the inventor creating great ships to voyage to Mars: all these people, all these dreams, can find expression, reinforcing and enriching each other with a whole far greater than the sum of the parts, in a place where we appreciate and build up one another instead of envying them and tearing them down.
Americans don’t just believe this theoretically: they live it. They implement it. They even have a whole day set aside to celebrate it, one of the most important days on their calendar. We are thankful for the efforts of others. We are grateful for what they do for us, whether they preach us the gospel or sell us some shoes. We know we couldn’t do those things for ourselves, that our lives would be immeasurably poorer without their work, and in expressing that gratitude, we encourage millions who in some other place would just be cogs in a machine to find purpose, and meaning, and to achieve more than any similar people ever have.
By contrast, envy tears down. It enforces fear, fear that forces people to hide their lights, their hopes, their dreams under a bushel. It stultifies innovation, because like crabs in a bucket, it drags down anyone so foolhardy as to try to rise above their “place”. Envy is the foundational value of Socialism, which does not create, but seeks to “redistribute” what belongs to others, proclaiming the equality of man but actually enforcing an equality of misery. Except for its elites, of course.
Gratitude matters, far more than we think, or think about.
So this Thanksgiving, don’t just be grateful for your blessings. Be grateful for gratitude itself. It has created a new and better world, one that attracts countless millions every year to our America.
And also know that I am genuinely grateful for you.
