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LEON KASS: What do you think this holiday today really ought to be about, and how does
it contribute to, and how does it express our American identity and our American character?
What’s its place really in our liturgical calendar?
CHRIS DEMUTH: I think it has gained in importance because it is more and more difficult to observe
in the traditional manner. Because, first of all, we live in an age of bounty. All of
us is essentially Stuffy Pete. We live in a world where there are football games and
Macy's day parades, and JC Penney now wants to start Black Friday on Thursday evening,
but that has caused a huge national controversy.
DIANA SCHAUB: I think it's good to put it in juxtaposition with the Fourth of July,
those two holidays together...on the Fourth of July, we take credit for ourselves, what
we did. On Thanksgiving, we place the credit elsewhere, and we look up. We look higher.
AMY KASS: Yeah, I would echo that. The Fourth of...the Declaration of Independence ends
with 'and for the support of this Declaration, with the firm reliance on the protection of
Divine Providence...' we firmly rely on it!...'we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honor.' This turns that inside out. This is…We're asking for
that. So, it goes...it's very close to the Fourth of July, but in a certain way, it's
absolutely the opposite. If one is about independence, this one is really about dependence. And as,
actually O. Henry says in the story, it's for those Americans that are not self-made.