Nostalgia (part 1) - A Father's Thanksgiving Prayer

Wikipedia/Thanksgiving Grace

Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday.  And this holiday has been the focus of some TV specials and episodes in series, especially in the 1950s.  Reflecting on some of the early days of television is a good lead in for this new thread -

nostalgia

a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time:  a nostalgia for his college days.

according to:  nostalgia. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nostalgia

One popular show of the 1950s was  Father Knows Best (1954 - 1960). At its center was a loving family: a hard working father, a wise stay-at-home mother, and three kids growing up in more innocent times.  And it was a time when prayer and patriotism were not banned from public places or ridiculed, but they were encouraged in our culture.

The series first Thanksgiving episode, "Father Knows Best" Thanksgiving Day (TV Episode 1954), focused on this holiday that had started out badly.  But in the end, the family came together and the father prayed with his wife and children.

(reference:  http://youtu.be/VOJbPLPROvg )

Though it first aired 60 years ago, this final scene still touches me and fills me with nostalgia.

This father leads, loves, and prays.  And he thanks God for their blessings, which are our blessings: our country and our freedoms, especially personal rights to worship, think, and speak as we choose.  And finally he thanks God for his family and their love for one another.

With the masculine references and King James English, this prayer is as un-PC as it gets.  But these virtues are a good thing to remember and something to reclaim.  The following Scriptures come to mind:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

During this Thanksgiving special, with its religious roots, its nostalgia helps me to -

Remember Who We Are!
   

For its history and its impact on our culture, here is a  good resource for more information for starters:   Thanksgiving - Facts, Origin, Pictures & Videos - History.com

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Similar post in this series:

New Years 2012 - the Good worth fighting for! (2011)

AI (part 2) - How Curiosity got our groove back (2012)

Culture 101 (part 9) - Father Knows Best (2013)

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Photo:  Wikipedia/Thanksgiving Grace

Culture 101 (part 11) - Native American Osmosis

Wikipedia/The Searchers

As November is Native American Heritage Month, what better opportunity is there than to offer tribute to one of the greatest contributors to our American culture, especially in the American West?  And the culture of the American West leads close to home - my home.

Before my father married, he had been a cowboy in the the first half of the 20th century.  His immigrant parents had homesteaded, he had worked the family ranch, and he had also worked as a ranch hand, where he met my mother, who was on a working vacation .

I recall my father really loved the American West and all the shows associated with it.  Gunsmoke was one of his favorite television programs.  As for movies, he really loved John Wayne especially in westerns.

Below is a clip of some stills of John Wayne's westerns (audio from the Alamo (1960))

reference:  http://youtu.be/TY2ajoB_soc

This American icon is an attempt to capture a characteristic of a people identified with the American West.  The laconic, plain spoken, down-to-earth, honest pilgrim has seemed to have resonated in American culture as evident by the popularity of the western genres.

But a strong case has been made that the source of these values and characteristics of the American cowboy, for example, came from the Native American Indians.  And here is a theory how that may have happened.  Let's start with ...

East meets West

I have a running series on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  by Robert Pirsig - which I abbreviate as ZAMM.  (For the last post - with links to earlier posts, check out - ZAMM (part 7) - Yes or No - Gotcha!)  

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig was published in 1974 and has been deemed an important culture-bearing book of the 20th century.  And 15 years later (1992), Robert Pirsig came out with another one -  Lila: An Inquiry into Morals.  (Perhaps, I may start another series based on "Lila" when I wrap up ZAMM.)

Amazon/Lila

The metaphysical discourse continues in this sequel as the author uses the voice of his alter-ego Phaedrus.  While sailing down the Hudson River, he encounters a troubled woman named Lila - his muse as he ponders the meaning of culture and morality.

In one discourse, Phaedrus recalls a fellow English professor at Montana State College (now MSU-Bozeman),   James Verne Dusenberry (1906-1966).  Professor Dusenberry had made an impression with his passion for helping the Native Americans at the college and on the reservations.

 Many details are given in Lila, but Praedrus writes how Dusenberry had immersed himself with the culture, much to the consternation of "objective anthropologists."   Turned down by American universities for further graduate study in anthropology, Dusenberry got his PhD at the University of Stockholm with a thesis of Native American Indians.  Quite ironic.

Wikipedia/ Native American Church

During their days at Montana State College, Dusenberry took Phaedrus to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation near Busby.  There, the two college professors engaged in one of the ceremonies at the Native American Church.

Phaedrus admitted the experience seemed quite strange as it involved imbibing the hallucinogen,  peyote, a Mexican cactus.  (In that day, peyote was a relatively unknown substance - as this was before the 1960s counter-culture.)  But this cactus was a key part of their vision quest.  Peyote was less masochistic and quicker than the olden days (before the 19th century). Back then, a vision quest involved days of isolation, fasting, prayers, and mediation until the Great Spirit revealed himself and took over the life of the seeker.

As Phraedrus just let the experience happen - he describes it in Lila - he became aware that he had become part of a people who were the plain spoken, laconic, deliberate in their actions, direct, honest.  Then Phaedrus felt a split inside him.  One part felt the experience was so alien.  The other part felt it was quite familiar -  like he was coming home.

Ah hah!

Then it hit Phaedrus.  The Native Americans were the originators of the culture of the American West, which we share in the stories of the mountain men, the settlers, the cowboys  - such as portrayed by actors like John Wayne.  Yet, we don't recognize this because of the long running hostility between the white men and Native Americans.

Here is another story in our popular culture to make that point.

In the movie Little Big Man (1970) , Jack Crabb survived a Pawnee massacre of his parent's wagon train, but later he was rescued and raised by the Cheyenne.  Telling the story as an old man looking back, Jack moved in and out of  the culture of the white settlers and the Native Americans.

Jack's adopted grandfather in the scene below plainly talks of the hostility between the two peoples.  Yet the human beings (what the Cheyenne called themselves) accepted Jack, a white man, into their culture much like Professor Dunsenberry had been accepted by the Northern Cheyenne in the 20th century.

reference:  http://youtu.be/LJRs2TnP9H8

Osmosis ...

That's the best world I can think of to describe what happened as the Native American culture rubbed off onto the settlers.  The first Mountain Men  lived with the Natives and learned their ways.   Later, the settlers came and learned to survive from the Mountain Men.  Yet the settlers did not recognize the source of the culture that they had embraced came from the Native Americans.  Perhaps they did not want to recognize it.  They were hostile toward them and looked down on them.

But Phraedrus researched the writings of the natives commenting on the white men and white men commenting on the natives and made this correlation:  Europeans viewed Americans - their lack of eloquence, lack of discipline, their sloppiness, lack of social class structure -  much like how  the Americans viewed the natives.  And natives viewed the white man - their deceitful and empty talk, the snobbishness, the arrogance, the disingenuousness - much like how many Americans viewed the Europeans.

With more digging, Phaedrus discovered that Professor Dusenberry was not the first to come to this conclusion  Child prodigy William Sidis was onto this and wrote about it, such as in this piece - An Unpublished Exploration of Native American Contributions to Democracy.  Mostly, Sidis' writings at the time were scoffed at and ignored, much like Professor Dusenberry was at Montana State College.

Much can be said about the Native American influence on the American government and our cherished beliefs - equality, lack of social classes, freedom.  But that can be fodder for another blog.

Yet these values - equality and freedom - are part of our American culture and the New World's gift to the Old World.

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Other posts on this subject

America's Story (part 2) - Savages! (2011)

America's Story (part 11) - Sacajawea (2012)

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Previous posts in the Culture 101 series:

Culture 101 (part 1) - Reagan's Challenge (2012)

Culture 101 (part 2) - Easter Eucatastrophe (2012)

Culture 101 (part 3) - Paul Revere's Ride (2012)

Culture 101 (part 4) - Gold Diggers and the Great Depression (2012)

Culture 101 (part 5) - Blue Bloods and 9/11 (2012)

Culture 101 (part 6) - Gilligan's Island and Breast Cancer Awareness (2012)

Culture 101 (part 7) - Band of Brothers  (2013)

Culture 101 (part 8) - Snow White (2013)

Culture 101 (part 9) - Father Knows Best (2013)

Culture 101 (part 10) - Summertime! x 3 (2013)

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Photos from:  Wikipedia/The Searchers ; Amazon/Lila ; Wikipedia/ Native American Church;  

Culture 101 (part 10) - Summertime! x 3

Summer field in Belgium

Three faces of Summer

1. The scientific face

Yes, summer solstice officially begins June 21, 2013 in the northern hemisphere.  [reference:  First Day of Summer 2013 Solstice Dates Times Photos]

And for my science loving friends, the reasons for the seasons are well explained in the video clip below:




Now, wasn't that intellectual?

2.  The Romantic and Poetic face:

Solomon knew something about romance and the change of seasons when he penned this -

¹¹ See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
¹² Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree forms its early fruit;
    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.”

from Song of Solomon 2 (NIV)

3.  The artsy and cultural face

In 1935, what the History Channel calls the first great American opera, Porgy and Bess, premiered on Broadway.  [reference: Porgy and Bess, the first great American opera, premieres on Broadway — History.com This Day in History — 10/10/1935]

One of the memorable numbers from the opera is Summertime, as sung below in  this clip:




Lyrics are here: PORGY AND BESS SUMMERTIME LYRICS


The Mind, Body, and Soul -

Enjoy these three facets of summer!

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Previous posts in the Culture 101 series:

Culture 101 (part 1) - Reagan's Challenge (2012)

Culture 101 (part 2) - Easter Eucatastrophe (2012)

Culture 101 (part 3) - Paul Revere's Ride (2012)

Culture 101 (part 4) - Gold Diggers and the Great Depression (2012)

Culture 101 (part 5) - Blue Bloods and 9/11 (2012)

Culture 101 (part 6) - Gilligan's Island and Breast Cancer Awareness (2012)

Culture 101 (part 7) - Band of Brothers  (2013)

Culture 101 (part 8) - Snow White (2013)

Culture 101 (part 9) - Father Knows Best (2013)

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Photo from:  Wikipedia - Field Hamois Belgium

Culture 101 (part 5) - Blue Bloods and 9/11

Remember the 1980s?

Ronald Reagan was president (1981 - 1989). And during most of the decade (1980 - 1988), Tom Selleck starred in Magnum, P.I.

Magnum PI stencil

If you missed the show when it was first on the air and/or its reruns (I have all 8 seasons on DVD), it was story of a hunk, Thomas Magnum - a Vietnam vet, a former Navy SEAL, who had suddenly resigned from a promising career in the Navy.

His reason?

"I woke up one day at 33 and realized I had never been 23."
(reference: Magnum, P.I.)

But Thomas Magnum landed in a sweet spot as a security consultant at a millionaire playboy's Hawaiian estate while working on the side as a private eye. He solved mysteries and stopped crimes (mostly for beautiful women) in the paradise of the Aloha State.

And Magnum's boss Robin Masters, highly successful writer of lurid pulp fiction and provider of Magnum's cool pad on his estate Robin's Nest, was hardly ever home. And Magnum got the keys to Robin's red Ferrari (not exactly inconspicuous for a private eye to be driving.) What a deal!

The character of Thomas Magnum was a free spirit and at times a little immature. To balance this "boy" in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts was Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, the caretaker of Robin's Nest. Higgins was the father figure, veteran of World War Two, master of law and order, the consummate Englishman and British soldier, who adored Queen Elizabeth II and admired General Bernard "Monty" Montgomery.  The two balanced each other - like yin and yang.

World War Two and Vietnam vets together in one series ...

And this series was unique in that it may have been the first to celebrate the "Greatest Generation" and World War Two veterans in the character of Jonathan Higgins with the Baby Boomers and Vietnam veterans in the characters of Thomas Magnum and his comrades-in-arms "Rick" Wright and "TC" Calvin.

This series reflected the pop culture of the 1980s and here is the opening scene of this 8-season show:




This series rocketed Tom Selleck to major stardom and later more plum roles. Among them, Quigley Down Under (1990), Monte Walsh (2003), and a favorite TV movie series of mine - Jesse Stone (2005 - 2012).

And as Magnum, P.I. ended in 1988, so did the Reagan years in 1989.

Reagan prepares for farewell address

On the more serious side as the 1980s drew to a close, President Reagan's farewell address sounded a warning for America's future, which included the pop culture. Here are some key excerpts -

"An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? ...
The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties."

I blogged about this as I kicked off the Culture 101 series - Reagan's Challenge.  And the President gave some advice on how to pass on American values to the following generations:

"And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do."

(reference: Farewell Address to the Nation)

Old fashioned?

And how does President Reagan's warning and advice tie in with Tom Selleck as we approach another anniversary of 9/11 in the 21st century?

Thirty years after Magnum P.I., Tom Selleck now stars in another TV series - Blue Bloods (2010). And he took on the character of Frank Reagan, who comes from an Irish-American family with a long tradition of being police officers. Frank Reagan was a Marine, a Vietnam vet, and an NYPD officer, who rose to Police Commissioner of New York City.

The Reagans on the show seem to heed President Reagan's advice in his 1989 farewell address. The extended family often gather around the dinner table on Sundays having meaningful discussions and debates while reinforcing American values. They are also regular church goers and, when they mention the Name of the Lord, it's not in vain, but with reverence as saying grace.

The scene below, Frank Reagan's father Henry had suffered a heart attack before Thanksgiving. As the patriarch recovers, the family gathers at the hospital for Thanksgiving dinner. Foremost, Henry leads the family in giving thanks to God for His many blessings.



Some camera shots show a picture of the Twin Towers in the background of Commissioner Frank Reagan's office. One of the stories revealed that Frank Reagan with his partner John McKenna were the first responders to 9/11, and they were in the North Tower -  getting people out - when the South Tower collapsed.



Statue of Liberty and WTC at 9/11

The episode - "The Job" - dealt with the cancer death of Frank's former partner, Chief John McKenna, who may have gotten ill from complications of breathing the air at Ground Zero. Frank has survivor's guilt and has trouble sleeping. He reluctantly talks to a psychiatrist about his experiences during 9/11 ...





Where were you on 9/11?

Later, Henry talks to Frank about faith in God and God's work in their family, though they may not always understand it. And Frank later gives a moving eulogy for Chief John McKenna and mentions his partner's bravery during 9/11. Then Frank visits to the September 11 Memorial as closure.

Below is the audio from this part of the episode with some still shots. It's worth a listen and is a wonderful tribute to all the first responders on September 11, who saved many lives, as well as those who wonder why bad things happen to good people. (The episode can be watched here: "Blue Bloods" The Job (2012))





Why God?

This very question was asked by Job. And the Apostle Paul gives a response that we often don't understand why - For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV )

The TV series, Blue Bloods, takes up President's Reagan's challenge as it reinforces American values and culture as well as faith in God and remembering September 11.

And, Lord willing, American culture will continue to be reinforced in this series ...

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Previous posts in the Culture 101 series:

Culture 101 (part 1) - Reagan's Challenge (2012)

Culture 101 (part 2) - Easter Eucatastrophe (2012)

Culture 101 (part 3) - Paul Revere's Ride (2012)

Culture 101 (part 4) - Gold Diggers and the Great Depression (2012)

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Related posts on 9/11:

September 11, 2001 - A Survivor's Faith (2011)

Dancing on Top of the World Trade Center (2010)

One Tuesday in September, eight years ago ... (2009)

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Photos from:
Wikipedia: WTC and Statue of Liberty, Prep for Reagan's farewell address
everystockphoto.com: Magnum P.I. stencil