« BackA Lesson from George Washington - Happy Thanksgiving
November 19, 2018
Dear Friends,
Every Thanksgiving, before we gave thanks and broke bread, my father would read to us George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation. This year, as I continue this tradition with my family, I am reminded that, like Washington, Pacifica also recognizes the critical value and importance of gratitude. I invite you, therefore, to reflect on just a few of the things we are grateful for in recent months:
- Seventeen students commenced their journey into adulthood as Pacifica's first graduates.
- Pacifica's fourth freshman class began their high school adventure.
- More than 200 faculty, staff, and students attended the All-School retreat.
- Pacifica hosted the first-ever rowing regatta in school history, the 2018 Pacifica Christian Rowing Invitational.
- Seventeen students competed in the Utah Shakespeare Festival, returning home with multiple awards including 2nd place in the Duo Dance competition.
- Our Triton girls varsity volleyball team became CIF-SS Runner-Ups.
- The first women’s golfer in school history qualified for CIF.
- Pacifica entertained 500+ patrons with three showings of Macbeth, the most ambitious and successful play in our school's history.
- Our community of supportive families and friends has grown.
- And through it all, our faculty and staff remained focused on the school's mission to teach students to think and live well.
Being thankful for every aspect of our lives creates a foundation for thinking and living well. As we become increasingly grateful for our ability to think, reason, and explore the world God created, we become better students. As we grow in appreciation for the people with whom we share life, we become better spouses, friends, and citizens. As we grow in gratefulness for our failures and the trials we encounter—that God is in the process of redeeming—we enjoy a deeper experience of peace. As we grow in our gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we experience true joy.
It is nearly impossible to do life well, to do school well, to do anything well, without this true and authentic spirit of thankfulness.
We give thanks for you and all that God has provided. On behalf of the entire Pacifica family, we commit to using all of our God-given gifts, talents, and abundance to the glory of God and the good of this community.
With thankfulness,
David O’Neil
Head of School
Thanksgiving Proclamation
Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and -- Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go. Washington
