As we approach
Thanksgiving week and a nice break in the rhythm of the fall semester, I am
including in this blog a poem by a 19th century American writer,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Not often
anthologized and seen as a sentimental poet, she occupies the same kind of
place as Edna St. Vincent Millay or John Greenleaf Whittier. Her most famous lines were: “Laugh and
the world laughs with you;/
Weep and you weep alone.” In the following simple and heartfelt poem
she shares some thoughts about Thanksgiving that I think are worth remembering
at this time of the year. She asks us to
be thankful not just for blessings but for hardships: “But he who has
the faith and strength/ To thank his God for sorrow/ Has found a joy without
alloy/ To gladden every morrow.” As
educators, we know these hardships are critical parts of the process of growth
for the children we serve. I hope that all of us can focus, too, on
those blessings to which we do not often pay attention: “For blessings common
in our sight/ We rarely offer praises.”
Hope the Thanksgiving holiday brings you and your family some “daily
store/ Of pleasures sweet and tender.”
“Thanksgiving” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.
Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hang about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives
And conquers if we let it.
There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.
Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble.
Farseeing is the soul and wise
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.
We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o'er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.
Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hang about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives
And conquers if we let it.
There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.
Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble.
Farseeing is the soul and wise
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.
We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o'er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Please don’t forget
to remind your friends and neighbors about the BGA Open House on Sunday,
December 4th, from 3:00-5:00 p.m.
We strongly encourage any current parents thinking about the transition
to the next division or prospective families whom you think are a good fit for
this community to visit with us during this exciting event.
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