Our Thanksgiving ideals

The most famous Thanksgiving Day painting in America may not have been about Thanksgiving at all.

Norman Rockwell's "Freedom From Want" — from his series of paintings depicting the "Four Freedoms" cherished by President Franklin D. Roosevelt — may have been a Christmas or even Sunday dinner, for all we know.

But the painting embodies the spirit of Thanksgiving so much, it has become an icon of the day.

There is the turkey, of course. And the rather formal family patriarch presiding at the head of the table. There is the angelic mother and grandmother who needs heavenly powers just to lift that turkey.

But the essence of the painting — like the essence of Thanksgiving itself — is in the relationships.

Notice that fellow staring at us from the bottom right-hand corner.

In "A Christmas Carol," the Ghost of Christmas Present spirits Scrooge to the Cratchit family Christmas dinner. But poor Ebenezer is not included. He must remain on the outside, longing to belong.

But not in Rockwell's painting.

The guy at the bottom makes us part of it all. We are included. We belong. We are members of the family.

And notice the way the generations blend. From youngest to oldest, family members are engaged with each other. They are not only connected but obviously interested in each other. They are "thankful people" raising the song of "harvest home," as the LDS hymns say. They have "gathered together to ask the Lord's blessing."

They are one in spirit.

Norman Rockwell never had much use for gritty reality. He preferred to paint the ideal — America's notions of itself. His genius was in tapping the sentiment, values and optimism of the nation itself.

The plates in his this painting may be empty now, but soon they'll overflow with warmth and nourishment — a material feast to match the spiritual feast of the family at the table.

As Americans, we don't always achieve that ideal. But, as Americans, we keep trying.

It's what we do.

Today, we should not only give thanks for all we have, but pledge to remember who we are.

The ideal is before us.

May your Thanksgiving today be Rockwellian.