One of my favorite humorists, Will Rogers, once said, "All I know is what I read in the papers. And half of what I know ain't so." He must have been thinking about Thanksgiving.

We all remember the Thanksgiving projects we did in elementary school, the construction paper turkeys, the Pilgrims with their black, buckled hats, Squanto and the other friendly Indians who celebrated that so-called "First Thanksgiving."

But did you know that a good deal of what you learned about that Thanksgiving simply isn't so? Or that a lot of it has been seriously distorted? Did you know that the Pilgims underestimated the number of Indians attending, and, not having enough sweet potatoes with marshmallows to go around, prevailed upon the Indians to bring most of the food, including the turkeys? Did you know that the Pilgrims wore colorful clothing and seldom wore black because black dye was very expensive and reserved for their best garments only. Did you know that, contrary to what your grandmother told you, there were no marshmallows at the "First Thanksgiving?"

Like most holidays, there are a lot of myths and misinformation. But the reasons why Thanksgiving remains one of our most beloved holidays overcome the misinformation. In the fall of 1621 the Pilgrims were grateful to Squanto, his pal Samoset and their chief Massasoit for helping them get through their first year. So they invited them to eat with them (and, oh yes, talk about some land transfers).

The Thanksgiving we celebrate now is really the outgrowth of an attempt to deal with the massive immigration of the late 19th Century in the United States. Somebody, we are not sure just who, latched on to the myth of the happy Pilgrims and Indians and decided that it fit right in with the "big melting pot" theory that was then being employed in an attempt to meld hundreds of disparate immigrant groups into one nation.

Call it PR, call it nation building, but it worked. Today Thanksgiving is our least militant, least religious, and most American holiday. It is a day in which we celebrate our national unity but, perhaps most important, we celebrate the unity of family.

That's why roast turkey can be found this year on the tables of Irish, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, African, Norwegian, and Pakistani groups and on similar tables of thousands of religious and ethnic groups in our United States.

It is a day when, between the big meal and the football games, we think about all we are truly grateful for. It's a good thing to remember: a prosperous and free nation, an educational system that is among the best in the world, the ability to rise as far as our determination and skills permit, and a healthcare system that, despite some faults, is the envy of the world. We are truly grateful for all of this.

Most of us enjoy good health, the products of good educations and an unbounded optimism that is the trademark of Americans everywhere. And we have families that are the strong building blocks of the rest of our society.

All of us have many families. We have the families of our blood, our kith and kin. We have families of coworkers. We have families of teachers and students. We love them all in different ways and at this Thanksgiving 2003 we are thankful for the richness they bring to all of our lives and for the sacrifices of so many in the generations before us and the sacrifices that continue today that permit us to give thanks in a richly diverse, united and free land.