A SCWLA Thanksgiving

 

November 23, 2015 

Re:       A SCWLA Thanksgiving 

Dear SCWLA Members: 

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day.  We will celebrate friends and family and, my personal favorite, homemade macaroni and cheese. We will give thanks for our good fortune, our good health and our bright futures.

This year, however, I ask you to remember one thing.  Centuries ago, when our ancestors celebrated that first Thanksgiving, they were celebrating, in part, their religious freedom.  The Pilgrims, as many others, came to this country seeking religious independence.  Today, because of their journey, and their sacrifice, we live in a land where we are free to observe, or not to observe, any religion we choose.

 In a way, we all are Pilgrims.  In this life, we travel long journeys for important reasons.  As lawyers, you and I travel through life as guardians of the law.  We are, in a very real sense, the pioneers who defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law.

At the end of the day, it is not only our families or our friends, or the macaroni and cheese, for which we should be thankful this year -- it is our freedoms as Americans.  While we will not tolerate crimes and atrocities, we must never forget that our nation was built by immigrants -- like those Pilgrims who, years ago, left everything they knew in search of religious tolerance.  I, for one, am truly thankful for that fact.

With best personal wishes, and more to come.