Many people’s Thanksgiving plans have been disrupted by the surge in COVID-19 cases. Sisters’ traditional holiday kickoff events this weekend will be sorely missed. So much has been canceled and so much that the Sisters community values has been put at risk this year.

We’re all fatigued and most all of us have suffered losses of one kind or another.

And yet…

There remains much to be thankful for and much to appreciate. The stalwart volunteers who stage the Sisters Community Thanksgiving Dinner have found a way to make it happen — even if it’s not the same as gathering with friends. Teachers continue to find ways to give Sisters students a version of the remarkable educational opportunities that make Sisters schools stand out (see story, page 1).

Shopkeepers and restaurant owners keep finding ways to persevere, and neighbors continue to reach out a helping hand.

A friend who has had a particularly brutal 2020 noted that, “Thanksgiving is a date on a calendar.” If you can’t celebrate with loved ones this Thursday, you can defer the celebration to another day, as my own family will do.

But there’s no need to defer giving thanks. The tradition arises out of adversity, from the arduous early settlement of America through the Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression and world wars. The purpose of a day of Thanksgiving is not to eat till we’re stuffed, nor even to enjoy the fellowship of family and friends: It is to remind ourselves that even in dark times, there is much good in our world, much to be thankful for.

Jim Cornelius

Editor in Chief