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At Greenblatt’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, B-TV asks spectators what the holiday means to them. The answers include family, time away from work, a large meal, the parade itself, and gratitude for blessings. B-TV gathers these ideas into a celebration of what it means to give thanks to God.
A dictionary segment describes the American holiday on the fourth Thursday of November and the Canadian observance on the second Monday of October. Both are connected with gratitude for harvest and health. Historical reports mention the 1621 feast at Plymouth and an earlier American day of thanksgiving held by English settlers arriving aboard the Margaret in 1619.
After a comic poem celebrates the astonishing quantity of food people consume at Thanksgiving, B-TV turns to gratitude offered under dangerous circumstances. A dramatic retelling begins with Emperor Darius dividing responsibility for his great kingdom among princes and presidents. He places Daniel above them all because of Daniel’s excellent character.
Jealous officials can find no wrongdoing in Daniel, but they notice that he kneels three times each day to thank God. They trick the proud Darius into signing an unchangeable law that forbids anyone from asking anything of a god or person other than the emperor for thirty days. The punishment is to be thrown into a den of lions.
Daniel reads the decree and continues praying openly toward Jerusalem. He thanks God for his blessings and asks that the crisis bring glory to God’s name. Darius is horrified when the officials report him, but the emperor cannot undo his own law. He reluctantly sends Daniel into the lions’ den while hoping that Daniel’s faithful God will rescue him.
Between scenes, B-TV History News reports on King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Sacrifices, worship, music, and dancing fill the journey into the city. David lays aside royal dignity and dances with all his strength because he is overflowing with gratitude that the Ark is returning to its rightful place.
Two shorter accounts compare people who receive blessings with those who remember to say thank you. During a famine, a generous man distributes bread to hungry children. All scramble for the largest loaves except Sarah, who patiently accepts the smallest and expresses sincere thanks. Silver coins hidden in that loaf become her reward for the gratitude the other children neglected.
In another village, ten people with leprosy call to Jesus for mercy. He sends them to show themselves to the priests, and all ten are healed along the way. Only one - a Samaritan - returns to glorify God and thank Jesus. His gratitude distinguishes him even though the people around Jesus would normally have regarded him as an enemy.
When morning comes in Babylon, Darius rushes to the lions’ den and calls for Daniel. Daniel answers that God sent an angel to close the lions’ mouths because he is innocent. The delighted emperor lifts him out without an injury and proclaims throughout the kingdom that Daniel’s living God rescues, performs wonders, and rules forever.
In Jerusalem, David returns home still rejoicing, but his wife Michal mocks him for dancing in public with so little concern for royal appearance. David declares that he celebrated before the Lord and would humble himself even further to honor God. Sarah reports that Michal’s contempt leaves her without children.
The final tale follows Harlow, a poor but contented stonecutter who stops being thankful after seeing a rich man’s home. In a dream, each wish gives him something he considers more powerful: wealth, the rank of a prince, the burning strength of the sun, the force of a rain cloud, and the immovability of a mountain rock. Yet every new form meets something stronger.
As a rock, Harlow discovers that a simple stonecutter can break pieces from him. He begs to become a stonecutter once more and awakens in his own hut. At last he understands that endless comparison destroyed his joy. Grateful for the person God made him to be, Harlow decides that he wants no other life and celebrates the equally valuable uniqueness of everyone else.
Around the story
The host segments that opened and closed the broadcast.A BTV reporter stands in the crowd at Greenblatt's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a yearly tradition in Odyssey, and asks people what Thanksgiving means to them. One man says it means togetherness with family and friends, plus a day or two off from work. A woman says it means great food - a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Another man says it means the parade itself, which he thinks Thanksgiving would not be the same without. Finally, a woman says it means being thankful for all our blessings, since that is why the holiday is called Thanksgiving in the first place. The reporter agrees that she has it right, and her answer points the way to the program's theme of true thankfulness.