I’m a little troubled by stories like the one in California in which parents argued over the merits of wearing paper pilgrim hats and paper Indian regalia.

One side of the discussion seems to ignore the offensiveness and insensitivity to a culture, while the other side appears to want to completely dismantle a tradition.

I happened to visit our local elementary school on Tuesday and sure enough, there were the kids in paper “Thanksgiving” duds, half of the class as Pilgrims and half as Indians. I’m certain the adults behind the celebration have no malicious intent, and could possibly be open to gentle persuasion to do something more constructive with the holiday.

The key is in having a reasonable discussion about the issues and looking for ways to reach a reasonable compromise. Evidently this is too much to ask when it is a question of taking away the kids’ paper hats.

Why not New Amsterdam as a founding myth of tolerance and cultural sharing (I’m sure they had harvest celebration meals as well) – see the book Island at the Center of the World, just the first couple of chapters.

Or Jamestown – those folks were “only in it for the money” – which is “as American as Apple Pie.”

Or why not recreate Thanksgiving as a native festival, to which “immigrants” are welcome.

Or go back to the Old Testament Sukkoth.

Any of these constructions would give the US better “heroes” than the current version.

Or we might try an ahistorical simple sense of being Thankful right now for having so much, combined with a few moments of promising to do better things with all of our wealth in the future.

Happy Thanksgiving!