Praise for 'small p' pilgrims

Thanksgiving calls to mind Pilgrims, with a capital "P." And each year we in America honor those rock-solid Plymouth pioneers who put down roots and set up housekeeping in this Brave New World. We celebrate that first "diversity conference" — Thanksgiving (capital "T").

But a pilgrim is more than a man in buckled shoes. Pilgrims — by definition — are travelers, wayfarers, explorers and seekers. They are souls who set out with high hopes and a vision of the way things can be. They are people of faith and resilience. They are works in progress.

And Nov. 25th seems like a good day to offer thanks for all the "small p" pilgrims who have risked their own sense of well-being so we could one day have ours.

For many sojourners throughout history, the Promised Land was an actual land. Brigham Young led the Mormons west to the mountains. The slaves of the Civil War sought solace in the North. Immigrants today still flock by the millions to the Promised Land of America and its opportunities.

Pilgrims are not a burden or a nuisance. The dangerous travelers are those who seek to exploit and conquer.

Other American pilgrims have sought a state of mind more than a physical state. Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., were on a pilgrimage for justice. Cesar Chavez trekked after equality. Black Elk, Billy Graham, Abraham Heschel and others have sought the Promised Land of the human heart.

And while ladling out the gravy this year, it might be well to remember the rich legacy of American seekers — from the original Plymouth Rock party of 1620 on down.

It might be well to offer thanks for everyone who has set out on a trek to better our lives.

"Thanksgiving is a time in which we can count our blessings and celebrate family life," wrote Elder Neal A. Maxwell of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Thanksgiving is a time, too, of hopeful anticipation."

Indeed, the notion of "gratitude" usually implies "looking back" at blessings received . But the wise soul knows enough to give thanks, as well, for opportunity and the prospect of a tomorrow. The wise offer thanks for their dreams.

One suspects that vision is what propelled "pilgrims" like Brigham Young, Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi forward. It was also what drove the original Pilgrims to their knees.

Gratitude for mercies rendered is important. But gratitude for a chance to make a difference, to make a better life, to advance the cause and — God willing — even change the world, that is what is at the heart of every true pilgrim's prayer.