Letters to the Editor | Nov. 27, 2024

The Inquirer asked readers whether and why they were feeling thankful this year. Here are some of your responses. More will appear on Thanksgiving Day.

I am thankful for my friends and relatives. They add joy to my life. I am thankful for my country. America is the greatest nation the world has ever produced. But most of all, I am thankful for my parents. Their love wrapped me in a mental and emotional strength that enabled me to live a happy and meaningful life — as a teacher for 36 years, a building representative for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, a Democratic committeewoman, and a world traveler. Their love lives in my memory and is giving me strength to do battle with the Parkinson’s disease that is trying to take over my body. Thankful? Yes, I give thanks every day for the love Mom and Dad gave me.

Sheryl Kalick, Philadelphia

No, I’m not saying Philadelphia invented Thanksgiving. Or that we hosted a grander feast than the Native Americans and the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Mass. But like many aspects of American history, we had a hand in perfecting it.

Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving ties date back to its glorious founder William Penn and Surveyor General Thomas Holme — who envisioned a city at the conjoining of Pennsylvania’s two rivers around land long inhabited by the Lenni Lenape — and was made possible by a gift of the land by King Charles II. Much like the gorgeous high-resolution photos of the trees surrounding Philadelphia today, Penn used the beauty of the late November foliage to attract Europeans to relocate to the city.

Thanksgiving of 1682 wasn’t just about the leaves. Legend has it that under one of those elm trees that just so happens to reside in modern-day Fishtown located in Penn Treaty Park is a tree that also provided shade for Penn and the Native Americans as they signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon. We even have the oldest Thanksgiving parade since 1920 — created by the founder of Gimbels. And by what metric do we measure how we are feeling for Thanksgiving in Philadelphia in 2024? Well, the Eagles are in first place in the NFC East.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt, Abington

Saturday marks the 150th birthday of one of the greatest statesmen in history: Winston Spencer Churchill. I have been thankful for the past 80-plus years that he became prime minister when I was a kid in England during World War II, through the Blitz and fear of invasion. His rousing words of encouragement, when Britain stood alone against the three Axis nations bent on world domination, were summed up by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, when he conferred on him the unique award of honorary citizen of the United States: “In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone — and most men save Englishmen despaired of England’s life — he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.” Churchill didn’t win the war, but he convinced us that we could, and stayed in London as overall commander of the armed forces while buildings around 10 Downing St. were bombed. Newsreels of him walking through the rubble the morning after an air raid kept our spirits up, as did his rousing speeches, such as after defeating the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain in 1940: “If the British empire and its commonwealth should last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

Nick O’Dell, Phoenixville

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 200 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.