Wishing the American People a Happy Thanksgiving
In his weekly address, President Obama gave thanks to all
the men and women defending our freedom and acknowledged their sacrifice might
mean they can’t spend the holidays with their families. The President also
recognized that as Americans, we gather together this Thanksgiving to lift up
those who need a helping hand, letting us move forward as a country and lead us
to a brighter tomorrow.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/28/weekly-address-wishing-american-people-happy-thanksgiving?utm_source=snapshot&utm_medium=email&utm_content=112813-topper
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address -- Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Hi, everybody. On
behalf of all the Obamas – Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Bo, and the newest member of
our family, Sunny – I want to wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
We’ll be spending today just like many of you – sitting down
with family and friends to eat some good food, tell stories, watch a little
football, and most importantly, count our blessings.
And as Americans, we have so much to be thankful for.
We give thanks for the men and women who set sail for this
land nearly four centuries ago, risking everything for the chance at a better
life – and the people who were already here, our Native American brothers and
sisters, for their generosity during that first Thanksgiving.
We give thanks for the generations who followed – people of
all races and religions, who arrived here from every country on Earth and
worked to build something better for themselves and for us.
We give thanks for all our men and women in uniform – and
for their families, who are surely missing them very much today. We’re grateful for their sacrifice too.
We give thanks for the freedoms they defend – the freedom to
think what we want and say what we think, to worship according to our own
beliefs, to choose our leaders and, yes, criticize them without
punishment. People around the world are
fighting and even dying for their chance at these freedoms. We stand with them in that struggle, and we
give thanks for being free.
And we give thanks to everyone who’s doing their part to
make the United States a better, more compassionate nation – who spend their
Thanksgiving volunteering at a soup kitchen, or joining a service project, or
bringing food and cheer to a lonely neighbor.
That big-hearted generosity is a central part of our American character. We believe in lending a hand to folks who
need it. We believe in pitching in to
solve problems even if they aren’t our problems. And that’s not a one-day-a-year belief. It’s part of the fabric of our nation.
And we remember that many Americans need that helping hand
right now. Americans who’ve lost their
jobs and can’t get a new one through no fault of their own. Americans who’ve been trapped in poverty and
just need that helping hand to climb out.
Citizens whose prayers and hopes move us to act.
We are a people who are greater together than we are on our
own. That’s what today is about. That’s what every day should be about. No matter our differences, we’re all part of
one American family. We are each other’s
keeper. We are one nation, under
God. That core tenet of our American
experience has guided us from the earliest days of our founding – and it will
guide us to a future that’s even brighter than today.
Thank you, God bless you, and from my family to yours,
Happy Thanksgiving
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