Thanksgiving Without God or Expectation

For November 28th, 2024

About a month back, in the middle of a week featuring Josephine Baker, actress, dancer, singer, civil rights activist before such things were commonplace, and someone who joined the French Resistance during World War II, I posted something she said about the landmarks of and the inner battles in her life:

“...It looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty, the freedom to go where one chose if one was held back by one's color? No, I preferred the Eiffel Tower, which made no promises."

We have promises to keep in this country, especially now.

Which brings me to this Thanksgiving and, stay with me, Christopher Hitchens, my favorite atheist, if you don’t count Mark Twain. There are two stories about Hitchens I want to share: one about those connections to people and places, one about the point and hope of today.