Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, maybe even my most favorite. It’s just hanging out and eating, and who doesn’t love that?I also like all of the Thanksgiving-themed programming on television. Sitcoms have memorable episodes, and Food Network has more turkey-and-fixins-themed shows than you can shake a stick at. And don’t even get me started on legendary episodes from Thanksgivings past, like the infamous WKRP turkey drop episode.So I might as well get in on the action and write about Thanksgiving over the next couple of weeks.Of course, Thanksgiving now is a little bit different than that first Thanksgiving. I doubt the folks at the first celebration enjoyed a stuffing as awesome as my wife’s goat cheese and spinach concoction.Part of the reason that Pilgrims had any excess to share and enjoy with the Natives at that first holiday, was thanks to the help of a member of the Patuxet tribe, Squanto.As you probably learned in elementary school, Squanto helped the Pilgrims survive those rough first years upon their arrival in the New World when he taught them how to catch fish and use the fish as fertilizer to grow corn.The old saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” could have been written about Squanto.Unfortunately, neither the Pilgrims or the Natives bothered to login to Facebook back then, so we don’t have any pictures or many first-hand accounts of how things went down. However, the spirit of the Pilgrims and Squanto lives on today.No, I’m not talking about goodwill toward man, or acceptance of those who are different from you, or any of those other lessons we could have taken away from Squanto and his English homies. That’s all fine and dandy, but I’m talking about the really important stuff: blogging and attracting readers.So for the purposes of this exercise, I’m the Pilgrims and you’re Squanto. Not only is this apropos for the reason I’m about to explain, but also because Squanto means divine rage. I’ve read comments on some blogs that couldn’t have been inspired by anything other than divine rage. But I know that none of my readers are full of divine rage, but rather divine grace, or divine wisdom.All right, let’s assume that you read my blog, and you think, “Boy that Dry it in the Water guy sure is smart/ funny/ witty/ thought-provoking.”First of all, thank you! That’s very nice of you. I appreciate the kind words.However, you’ve given me a fish. And even though I appreciate the fish, (not really, I don’t eat that crap!), what I’d really appreciate is if you taught me to fish. Which, in this metaphor, means that you tell other people how smart/ funny/ witty/ thought-provoking I am.You don’t want me to starve to death, do you? That’s not a very divine thing to do! So teach me to fish.Even though you’re Squanto, don’t make the mistake that the original Squanto made. Don’t forget to login to Facebook and like Brett Baker Writes. Then while you’re there, click on the Share button at the bottom of a post. That way all those cool, interesting, divinely-wise people that you’re friends with will see the post.You can also click on the Like button to show that you like what I’ve written. Some of your divinely-wise friends will see that as well, even if they haven’t yet Liked Brett Baker Writes.And if you’ve got something to say, then Comment on my post. I like to hear from you, and some of the insanely, mind-bogglingly intelligent people you’re friends with will see that you’ve commented and might checkout my posts as well.So don’t just celebrate Thanksgiving this year, become like the legendary Native American who helped make the holiday possible in the first place.Thanks for not letting me die.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++In case you didn't know, I have a Facebook page. It's called Brett Baker Writes. Like it, please.
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