A Thanksgiving thought

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Peninsula readers' letters: Nov. 23

From Daily News Group readers


Posted: 11/23/2010 12:15:58 AM PST
Updated: 11/23/2010 12:15:59 AM PST

A Thanksgiving thought

Dear Editor: A Thanksgiving Day editorial column told of a schoolteacher who asked her class of first-graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. But she knew that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys or tables with food. The teacher was taken aback with the picture Douglas handed in a simple, childishly drawn hand.

But whose hand? The class was captivated by the abstract image. "I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food," said one child.

"A farmer," said another, "because he grows the turkeys."

Finally, when the others were at work, the teacher bent over Douglas' desk and asked whose hand it was. "It's your hand, teacher," he mumbled.

She recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby, forlorn child, by the hand. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. Perhaps this was everyone's Thanksgiving, not for the material things given to us but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others.

Ted Rudow III,MA

Palo Alto