thanksgiving is nonsense

D_Gunther Snotpole

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If you are thanking God for your wealth or good health or full belly, then you are by extension also thanking Him for depriving others of these things. Otherwise, without the context of a shitty world full of suffering, you would have no idea of what to be thankful for. You can say "thank God we're not starving like those poor souls in Darfur." But.... how would you know to be thankful for that, unless there were poor souls starving in Darfur?

To extend your point a bit, there's nothing we need more than oxygen ... and yet no one, within my hearing, has ever thanked God for oxygen.
But that's because we all have access to it.
 

36DD

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To extend your point a bit, there's nothing we need more than oxygen ... and yet no one, within my hearing, has ever thanked God for oxygen.
But that's because we all have access to it.
There you go assuming again...what, oh what shall I ever do with you Rubi? I thank God all the time for the air in my head!:biggrin1:
 

joejack

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Thank heaven for little girls, for they grow up in the most delightful ways. One of the songs Chevalier sang to the German troops occupying France. Hey, he was only trying to feed his family, or was it following orders, or was everyone else doing it?
 

kalipygian

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I don't accept definition three. That would makes us pilgrims when we commute to work or go to the Pub.

The other two do foster this concept that the founding of your nation was some exalted sacred quest though.

Wasn't Jamestown founded earlier anyway?

Saint Augustine Florida is the oldest european settlement on the east coast, 1565. The next oldest on the continent is Tadoussac, Quebec, 1599.
 

Drifterwood

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Thanks KP.

I find the choices that people make to characterise their history very interesting. The "Pilgrims" were then by no means the first, whilst the others seem to have also had a very hard time settling, and St. Augustin being named in honour of perhaps the greatest Christian theologian.

It seems to me that those seeking commercial enterprise have been overlooked in favour of those seeking a more idealistic path. This is a common theme in mythology, from Gilgamesh to the Pilgrims.
 

36DD

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Thanks KP.

I find the choices that people make to characterise their history very interesting. The "Pilgrims" were then by no means the first, whilst the others seem to have also had a very hard time settling, and St. Augustin being named in honour of perhaps the greatest Christian theologian.

It seems to me that those seeking commercial enterprise have been overlooked in favour of those seeking a more idealistic path. This is a common theme in mythology, from Gilgamesh to the Pilgrims.
I am not trying to find information to fit my own interpretation of history, I thought you wanted to know if Jamestown was the first settlement in the colonies. It was. St. Augustine, though settled earlier as KP stated, was not considered a colony. Hope that clears that up.
 

Drifterwood

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Don't get me wrong DD, I am just interested in the fact that there are alternative founding stories available and in the choice made. I.e the religious one rather than the commercial one.

I find this strange, because, as an interested outside observer, I would say that the US was built more on commerce and enterprise than religion.
 

kalipygian

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Thanks KP.

I find the choices that people make to characterise their history very interesting. The "Pilgrims" were then by no means the first, whilst the others seem to have also had a very hard time settling, and St. Augustin being named in honour of perhaps the greatest Christian theologian.

It seems to me that those seeking commercial enterprise have been overlooked in favour of those seeking a more idealistic path. This is a common theme in mythology, from Gilgamesh to the Pilgrims.

Saint Augustine was primarily founded to remove the recently established French settlement at Fort Caroline, to effectively occupy Florida (which then designated the continent, not just the peninsula) and prevent the area being used as a base for raiding the Spanish treasure fleets. It was founded on the day of the feast of Saint Augustine, as Florida was discovered (officially) in 1511 on the feast of Pascua Florida. I don't know if either side would be characterized as idealistic.

It certainly was a colony, part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. There were settlements and missions farther north, briefly one on the Potomac. The first capitol of Florida was Santa Elena, now in South Carolina.