By Bob Settje

It is Thanksgiving week, and I am sitting here in Casco Viejo, the old quarter of Panama City, on one of my rare trips off-island, musing about my parents and grandparents and the Great Depression.

To explain … depending on which version of history you believe, we are about to celebrate the 391st or the 394th Thanksgiving in American history. That first Thanksgiving was meant to be just that, a giving of thanks for the plentiful harvest that followed our Pilgrim forefathers’ first — or third — year in the New World and allowed them to go on in that then harsh wilderness.

Over time, however, the concept of Thanksgiving has evolved. The thanks we give for the good fortune we’ve had in our personal lives has expanded to include our gratitude for the good fortune the United States has had as a nation. True, we’ve had our ups and downs, but on balance, we have been and continue to be a prosperous and blessed nation. The same can be said, of course, for Bermuda. Like its neighbour to the west, it has had good times and bad, including the current persistent recession, but overall it, too, has been blessed with a high standard of living. For that, Americans and Bermudians alike can and should be thankful.

We must keep in mind, though, that even in jurisdictions as prosperous as ours, not everyone shares in our good fortune. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, approximately four per cent of Americans receive some form of public assistance, and by some measures, 16 per cent live below the poverty line, including as many as 20 per cent of American children. In Bermuda, the number of those receiving assistance has grown from around 600 seven or eight years ago to nearly 3000 today, or from less than 1% of the population to approximately 5% — more than half of whom are seniors and disabled. This is a situation that no civilised jurisdiction – Bermuda or the United States — can or should accept.

So, back to the Great Depression ... My parents and grandparents — farmers and blue collar workers — were among those who suffered the most from 1929 to 1941. No matter how hard they worked, money – and sometimes even food — was scarce. Simply surviving from day to day was a monumental feat. When times were particularly bad, they had to resort to what was then called “the dole.” At one point, after a series of years of poor harvests, the bank foreclosed on the family farm.

Then WWII and the post-war investment boom came along, spurring economic growth and providing opportunity for nearly all. My parents and grandparents and their families took full advantage of those opportunities, pulling themselves out of the depths of poverty and creating solid, productive, and stable lives for themselves and their children.

So this Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season, when we gather around our holiday tables as our Pilgrim fathers did before us, let us not simply give thanks for our good fortune and then move on.

Let us also remember our brethren who have not been so fortunate. Let us look for ways to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves — by perhaps donating our money or volunteering our time — and let’s work together to create an environment in which all have access to the opportunities and rewards that so many of us too often take for granted. We will all be the better for it.

*Bob Settje is the US Consul General