Singleton writes about the true meaning behind Thanksgiving

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “An old man’s lesson: Thanksgiving - think of others” was originally published in the Nov. 27, 1975 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

Thanksgiving means many things to many people. If one tried to analyze its true meaning, he might become confused with our present-day concept and what it has meant in the past.

Today, we look upon Thanksgiving as the day when we have turkey for dinner and after the meal we gather around the television to watch our favorite ball games. Very few pause for just one brief moment to give thanks to the Almighty for our well-being and success.

We have come to believe that our land of plenty is something that will stand forever, that we will never want for the necessities that are essential for us to survive in our environment.

We are so wrapped up with our great success that we feel that Thanksgiving is every day of the year. We are disillusioned when we are not able to reach out and bring to us the many whims and luxuries that our appetites cry for.

We know not the words “to want,” “to need,” or “to do without.” Very few are aware of our fellow men, especially the aged and the suffering. We pass among these people without once realizing that many are in need for a kind word or a moment’s conversation.

A few years back on Thanksgiving Eve, I rode to town to mail a letter. The cold rain was falling, and the wind was causing chills to tickle the spine. I was thinking of my success and what Thanksgiving meant to me and my family. I thought that all was well with everyone everywhere.

As I rounded the corner on my way home, I saw an old man standing on the street. He seemed uncertain about standing there, as though he didn’t want anyone to see him. I stopped and backed my car to where I could open the door and asked him where he was going.

After a minute’s hesitation, he climbed into the car beside me. He then told me that he lived near Claiborne and that he had come to Monroeville to see the doctor. He was suffering from a severe cold.

He insisted that he was able to walk home and that it would be a lot of trouble for me to carry him to where he lived near the river. He kept telling me of the trouble he was causing me as we drove through the misting rain on our way out of town. Never once did he complain about his state of being, always his concern was of me.

In the course of conversation as we rode along, I asked this man about what he was planning for the next day, Thanksgiving. His words were that he was proud to be alive and to have a roof over his head, a roof to keep him dry from the rain, and, most of all, to have a warm fire to sit by.

As I returned home, I thought of the old man’s words many times. I thought of how easy it would have been for him to hate. Yet his concern was not of himself. There was no place for self-pity in his thoughts – only his deep love for life and the patience to appreciate it.

I thought of the simple things that he was thankful for, when I was demanding so many things that didn’t matter.

Thanksgiving has never been the same for me since that night. Where once my thoughts were of myself, they now are of others on Thanksgiving. And I have grown wiser because of this old man, whose name I forgot to ask.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)