Bernadette Wilson: Thanksgiving is also a reminder that freedom has always been worth the risk

By BERNADETTE WILSON

Rewind with me  to “Thanksgiving 2020.”

It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Alaskans were issued an Amber Alert, urging them to celebrate “differently” at Thanksgiving.

Here in Alaska, most of our schools were shut down, and so were our churches. Masks and an arbitrary six feet of distancing were being imposed on us in government buildings, airports, grocery stores, and everywhere in between. Many family members, especially those in assisted living facilities, spent Thanksgiving isolated.

Reflecting upon how government treated its citizens during that Thanksgiving, and the very spirit of the cherished holiday itself, we find great irony. In the name of saving our health, we started to lose the very essence of who we are as a culture and as a society.

The survival rate of Covid was greater than 99%. We knew that then, and we still know it now.

While Covid-19 is in the rearview mirror as a national “crisis,” the lessons of that era, as well as the warnings, still echo loudly today.

Today, the issues may be different: government overreach, speech silenced in the name of “safety,” schools struggling to stay focused on academics, an assault on religious liberties, businesses squeezed by overregulation. But the pattern is familiar. In the name of preventing harm, we’re told once again to shrink our lives, limit our choices, and accept a little less freedom “for our own good.”

The details change. The theme does not.

It’s time for a truly American reset and reflection, and there is no better time than Thanksgiving.

When the first Pilgrims came to America, nearly 50% of them died that first winter. Stop and think about that: They had a nearly 50–50 chance of dying when they came to the New World. Yet they came.

They came despite the risk, because the promise of freedom, the ability to worship and educate their children, the ability to live and work without an oppressive government were worth it. They knew their friends and family, including their own children, could potentially die, but they knew that their freedoms were worth the risk, and they came because the promise of a free world was worth the health hazard and even death.

That first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock is especially important for us to reflect on this Thanksgiving. Stop and reflect on the very essence of freedom that our country is founded on. The first Pilgrims and our forefathers understood overwhelming risk far better than any of us will ever appreciate.

“Give me liberty or give me death” was not some cliché. It was truly a way of life, a comment from the heart that spoke in a very real sense of a risk that was understood and freedoms that were valued. It was a declaration from people who had lived through hardship, disease, war, and suffering—and still believed that life without freedom was no life at all.

Shelter was not guaranteed, healthcare was not guaranteed, even the ability to acquire food was not guaranteed.

The American Dream was built on just one guarantee — risk of losing it all.

The very freedoms our forefathers fought for are now being sold to us as selfish, bigoted, and “narrow-minded.” The very definition of the common good has been warped, and socialism has been sold as a higher good. The ability to fail and to struggle is being sold to us as a deficiency.

Bureaucrats increasingly treat freedom like an inconvenience instead of a birthright.

Legislative mandates, federal rules, board-level policies, and cultural pressure all nudge people toward conformity and compliance. We are told to avoid speaking up, avoid offending, avoid questioning. As if freedom itself has become hazardous.

The reality is, no current elected official, no government bureaucrat, understands risks, hardships, and uncertainty better than our forefathers. Yet the Constitution was written, and the Bill of Rights was forged, with no caveat. There is no doubt that while they understood risks at a much deeper level, they simultaneously valued freedom more fiercely than we can imagine. In those (mostly) young and “inexperienced” forefathers, there is a lesson that must be cherished in the highest regard.

The ability to work and worship in line with your values is not “narrow-minded.” The desire to educate your children without them being indoctrinated into woke ideology is not bigoted. Capitalism is not selfish. Your freedoms are not selfish. And the fact is, your freedoms are worth risking it all. That belief is the very foundation of our great country.

Those who would convince you that your freedoms are not worth the risk? Their ilk never got on the boat to begin with.

This Thanksgiving, let’s reflect on that first Thanksgiving — how we got here and why we came. It’s a season meant for gathering, remembering, giving thanks, and reconnecting with the values that built this country. A season rooted not in comfort or perfect conditions, but in sacrifice.

It’s time for an American reset. Your freedoms are worth the risk. They are worth the sacrifice. Happy Thanksgiving. May we continue to be blessed as “one nation under God.”

Bernadette Wilson is a lifelong Alaskan, business owner and candidate for governor.