In the pages of the Pottsville Republican from November 1918, we found an important piece of perspective for us to consider as we face an unprecedented holiday season. As our own pandemic rages on, we can find some hope and wisdom from the past.
Schuylkill County had just emerged from a month of death and despair that saw thousands of country residents die in the hellish second wave of an influenza pandemic in November 1918. Wise words for us as we enter an unusual holiday season.
Show that you are thankful that you are still in the land of the living, and that at least possess one or more senses of touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. For Thanksgiving Day the taste is the most to be desired if we only had the choice of one, at least, when it is time to sit down to the big meal of the day.
So this strange Thanksgiving, even while we are away from those we love and are commemorating the holiday without our usual traditions, be thankful for what we do have in this awful year.
And please – please – take care to abide by public health warnings and mandates in this difficult time. It may save your life or those of your loved ones this holiday season. We want them all to be able to taste Thanksgiving Dinner we can all be together again in 2021.
Featured Image: Volunteer workers serving food to children in Ohio during the 1918 influenza pandemic (Associated Press)
Source: Pottsville Republican, November 27, 1918
Wynning History 