Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Now that the family has departed, the leftovers devoured, and the holiday dishes stashed away, I get to reflect on why I enjoy this particular holiday more than any other. First, I love a celebration with family and friends that doesn't involve the hype and frenzy of Christmas, that, instead, is just a time for everyone to cook, eat, and have fun together.

Unlike most other holidays, Thanksgiving is for all Americans, no matter what your religion, background, color, or culture. It is our annual celebration of being American in all our rich diversity. To me, that is what makes Thanksgiving so remarkable. Its very beginnings underscore what America is today. The first celebrants were a mixture of European immigrants and Native Americans who, though all too briefly, gathered together to share their bounty and be thankful for their survival in a harsh land. Today, that mixture represents people from every country on earth who come together, not because we all agree on everything, but because we share our common nationhood.

The first European celebrants came seeking freedom from religious oppression. Their tiny colony heralded the day when religious freedom would become a founding principle of a new democracy, guaranteeing all of us the right to believe what we wish, free from the subjugation of any one religion or religious doctrine. As we look around the world, we see far too many examples of religious repression, dividing countries, stifling debate, and tyrannizing those who don't believe in the "right way". What makes Thanksgiving such a special American day is that we can all celebrate it, no matter what our religious beliefs, and all proudly call ourselves Americans. That is perhaps the single most important aspect of Thanksgiving to me--that it represents freedom of religion, thought, and speech for every one of us.

In my view, this is a holiday that also honors our interdependence. While we are a nation of fiercely independent individuals, we are a country, as well, that depends for our safety and well-being on our common commitment to a set of founding principles. It takes all of us to keep our nation and economy strong, from a venture capitalist to a factory worker, from a teacher to a cop. We need look no farther than our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to value the interdependence of men and women from all ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds working together on behalf of the rest of us. Despite our incredible diversity, it is our willingness to commit ourselves and our resources to our country that underlies our success as a nation.

One of our most important commitments to our nation is our collective willingness to invest our time and money in causes and communities. Yes, I know we face difficult problems like war, crime, homelessness, unemployment, pollution, and drug addiction. For those of us lucky enough to have enjoyed families and feasts on Thanksgiving, we should never forget that. But, what is so unique about the United States is that, for every problem, there is some group dedicated to fixing it. This, too, is part of our interdependence and sense of nationhood, our willingness to come together with people who may be very different from us in religion, race, or economic status to solve our social, environmental, and political problems. We volunteer our time and spend our money trying to make this country a better place for all of us, not just the few who think, believe, act, and look like us.

Thanksgiving is a time to not only be thankful for what we have, but also to remind ourselves of what America means to us and to the rest of the world. It is a time to discard the divisions of culture, status, or religion and remember how lucky we are to be Americans. It is an opportunity to observe how much we rely on one another, no matter what our differences, to assure our freedoms and our opportunities. That is what makes Thanksgiving so uniquely American-and my favorite holiday.