AMBASSADOR Robert Holmes Tuttle

Speeches, Remarks & Events

22 November 2007
Ambassador Tuttle's Thanksgiving Day Message at St Paul's Cathedral

(As prepared for delivery)

For many Americans, the holiday of Thanksgiving is best represented by the story of the first harvest and our Pilgrim Fathers.

For others, it is more meaningful to think of the waves of immigration at the end of the nineteenth century, and the people who continue to make up the "melting pot" that is America.

Still others believe we should concentrate on our way of life – made possible by our form of government, and our Constitution.

But as important as these are in the history of the United States, the importance of Thanksgiving is not due to history – or documents.

This day is about people.

We invite in our family, and open our homes to friends – and to strangers.

Across the nation, and around the world, we literally and symbolically join hands in the oldest form of human society, and most noble expression of community:

We share our table and we break bread – together.

The celebration of Thanksgiving is the declaration of our belief that people’s values do not lie in their race or religion.

That people should not be judged by their origin or tribe.

They are not just products of their gender or class.

It is a simple act – but its meaning is profound.

We are saying:

Let me feed and sustain you. Let me strengthen and support you.

Come, share the bounty of the harvest – and let us give thanks for that harvest.

Some of you here today are far from home, and perhaps far from loved ones as well.

In the past, I found myself away from family on a Thanksgiving Day. It can be a lonely feeling knowing that you cannot take part in a Thanksgiving feast that others are sharing.

Fortunately, this year I am surrounded by my extended family – but the memory of that feeling of disconnection, is part of why I believe this celebration of Americans in London is so important.

Whether we are with our own families or alone, we all come here today because we are part of an American tradition.

And we give thanks on this day above all others – because in our family, every person is unique – and equal.

Because we seek to respect our differences and honor our common spirit.

We recognize that whoever we are, and wherever we come from, our deepest instincts, our closest fears, and our greatest joys - are those we share by virtue of our common humanity.

That is why our thoughts turn not to history or documents, but to our thanks for:

Our homes and families – when so many are far away from their own – or in the military, risking their lives in distant outposts.

Our community, and our country – when so many in the world have no such security, and sometimes even suffer at the hands of their own government.

And we give thanks for every day of peace that we enjoy in this place, and every honest effort towards peace in places that do not, because we are acutely aware of just how precious – and how fragile – peace is in this dangerous world.

Welcome to this place.

Welcome to this table.

Whether you are family by name, or by sentiment – here – you are at home.

I would now like to read to you, a portion of President Bush’s Thanksgiving proclamation:

"Americans are a grateful people, ever mindful of the many ways we have been blessed. On Thanksgiving Day, we lift our hearts in gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy, the people we love, and the gifts of our prosperous land. . . .

I encourage all Americans to gather together in their homes and places of worship with family, friends, and loved ones to reinforce the ties that bind us, and give thanks for the freedoms and blessings we enjoy."

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