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NOV 2019
40 YEARS AND COUNTING
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PRACTICING GRATITUDE
Putting Good Back Into the World When It Knocks You Down
One of the things I like about this time of year is it’s an easy time to focus on being thankful. Thanksgiving is a good time for people to practice gratefulness. Many of our family traditions involve sharing what we’re thankful for as we sit around the table. And while it’s a good time to honor these feelings, I would encourage you to practice being grateful all year round.
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” –Anonymous As we come into the beginning of the holiday season, this quote, often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, reminds me of a lesson we try to abide by here at the company every day: to be grateful for customers, jobs, our free country, and God’s many blessings. I find that most people are grateful when something good happens. Getting a promotion at work or meeting someone special can make us feel good, and as a result, we assume it’s these circumstances that make us happy. The opposite of that is when someone cuts us off in traffic or our car breaks down, and we blame circumstances. Of course, there’s some truth to this. We can’t control what other people say or do, but we can control how we respond. If we let a bad driver or unfortunate event ruin our day, then we are letting things or people control how we feel. Instead, it can be an opportunity to change your thoughts and, as a result, change your feelings. One way to do this is to constantly remind yourself about the things you have to be thankful for.
When you feel like the world has wronged you, challenge yourself to change your state of mind away from negative thinking to focus on something you can be thankful for. Does this work all the time? No, but it works most of the time. If we can get our focus off our problems and onto being thankful or helping others, the worrisome feelings will dissipate. As a result, you too will feel better and happier. I know it’s not always easy. But when something triggers me to focus on myself and what’s going wrong, I try to do the opposite and focus on what is good in my life — like the list of things above. Former President John Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy’s message is a lesson for all of us. Don’t ask what the world owes you. Ask what you can do to improve the world. Ask how you can make someone’s day better. This season is a good time to focus on being grateful. In this country, we have the freedom and luxury to do that, and that is something to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
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Engage Your Kids on Thanksgiving
WITH THESE GRATITUDE-THEMED GAMES
Test Your Thanksgiving Tradition Knowledge WHAT, NO TURKEY? Thanksgiving is an excellent time to teach children about gratefulness. By planning some fun, gratitude-themed games, you can impart a valuable lesson and spend some quality family time together. Get your kids in the holiday spirit by adding a Thanksgiving twist to these classic games. Pictionary Want to bring out your kids’ creative sides? Pictionary is the perfect way to encourage artistic expression and grateful thinking. Try adding a rule where players have to draw something they’re grateful for. This will get your kids thinking beyond turkey and stuffing and give them an imaginative way to express their gratitude. Plus, who doesn’t love a good art contest? Guess Who? To play gratitude-themed Guess Who?, have each participant write down their name and something they’re thankful for on a slip of paper and put it in a bowl. Then, at the dinner table, have each person draw a random slip and read what it says without saying the name while everyone else tries to guess who wrote it. While Pictionary may get your kids talking about what they are thankful for, Guess Who? will tune them into what others around them are thankful for too. Most Americans know the first Thanksgiving as a celebration of unity between Pilgrim newcomers and Western natives, but did you know there’s more to this story? As you carve up the turkey this year, share these little-known first Thanksgiving facts with your family. Keep the good times rollin’! One day of feasting and merriment wasn’t enough for this ceremonious event. The first Thanksgiving actually lasted three days sometime between September and November of 1621. Plymouth Gov. William Bradford invited the Native Americans to celebrate with the colonists, who were ecstatic to discover their first successful corn harvest. This may seem gluttonous, but consider the hardships the two groups had endured up until that point. After a 66-day ocean journey to escape religious persecution in Europe in 1620, the Pilgrims battled a harsh winter, disease, death, and unfamiliarity in a new land. Meanwhile, the Wampanoag tribe was fighting to keep their homes and traditions alive among new invaders. It was only when a formerly enslaved Native American — Squanto of the Patuxet tribe — showed the Pilgrims mercy and the proper way to farm did they find agricultural success. Squanto was also pivotal in forming an alliance between the Pilgrims and local tribes.
Pick-Up Sticks Like regular pick-up sticks, the goal is to remove a stick from a haphazard pile without disturbing the others. However, by using colored sticks that represent different kinds of thankfulness — such as places, people, or food — you can make players think outside the box. This will ensure you get a wide range of creative, thoughtful answers whenever the kids pick up a stick. These modified games are great for helping your kids realize how much they have to be thankful for. Use these to spend some fun, educational, quality time with your family this Thanksgiving.
There was really no better way to celebrate than with a three-day potluck. Pass the venison, please!
Historians are still unclear as to what the settlers and Native Americans enjoyed for
three days of celebrating, but they do have a few clues. Journal entries cite Gov. Bradford sending men on a “fowling” journey, while others claim the Wampanoag tribe brought five deer to the feast. However, historians do know what was likely not present at the event. Since the sugar supply on the Pilgrims’ ship, the Mayflower, had run out, there likely weren’t any pies like the ones we commonly enjoy today. Instead, it was strictly a meat-and-potatoes kind of union. For curiosity’s sake, there’s never been any word on whether turkey was ever even part of the celebration. As you sit down to a feast on modern delicacies like baked sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and Butterball turkeys this Thanksgiving, don’t forget the long and strange journey this holiday has taken to get you there.
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THANK YOU, VETERANS!
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Burnished Potato Nuggets
Inspired by Bon Appétit
You’re a 19-year-old kid.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He’s not medevac, so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
You’re critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the central highlands of Vietnam.
There are countless ways to prepare potatoes, but not all are created equal. For irresistibly crunchy outsides and deliciously creamy insides, try this recipe. The result is sure to be the star side at your Thanksgiving table.
It’s Nov. 14, 1967.
Even after the medevacs were ordered not to come, he’s coming anyway.
Ingredients
LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
He drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load three of you onboard at a time.
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5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the medevac helicopters to stop coming in. You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is halfway around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.
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1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil 8 cloves garlic, crushed 2 sprigs rosemary Kosher salt, to taste
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors, nurses, and safety.
And he kept going back 13 more times until all the wounded were out! No one knew until the mission was over that the captain had been hit four times in the legs and left arm. He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the captain and his Huey.
Directions
1. Heat oven to 425 F. 2. In a large pot, pour water over potatoes to cover by 2 inches. Salt water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. 3. Thoroughly drain potatoes and let stand for 10 minutes. Toss gently and season with salt. 4. Meanwhile, combine both oils in a large pan and heat in oven for 10 minutes. 5. Remove pan from oven and add potatoes, turning to coat thoroughly. Return to oven and cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10. 6. Toss in garlic and rosemary and finish cooking for 8–10 minutes. 7. Drain and serve.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Medal of Honor recipient Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear the sound of a helicopter.
May God bless and rest his soul.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But it doesn’t seem real because it has no medevac markings on it.
DPI would like to thank veterans and their families for their service and dedication to this country.
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Turning the Bad Situations Into Good
Gratitude-Themed Games for Kids
Do You Know These First Thanksgiving Facts?
Major Ed Freeman’s Heroics Live On Burnished Potato Nuggets
History’s Most Successful Pirate
F rom Blackbeard to Jack Sparrow, pop culture teems with pirates. And while these pirates are well-known for their (sometimes fictional) accomplishments, the most successful pirate in history was Ching Shih. Ching Shih, who was born Shih Yang, was working in a Cantonese brothel when she met the pirate Zheng Yi. He came from a long family of notorious pirates and was impressed by Ching Shih’s cunning. They married in 1801 and built a pirate empire known as the Red Flag Fleet. When Zheng Yi passed away suddenly in 1807, Ching Shih strategically maneuvered her way into leadership, taking control of over 60,000 pirates. Historians describe Ching Shih as a brilliant military strategist, a skilled businesswoman, and a harsh disciplinarian. After taking control of the fleet, Ching Shih implemented a strict code of conduct. The code included rules for distributing booty, protecting female captives, and beheading anyone who disobeyed Ching Shih. Under her rule, the
bloody crimes of piracy became a profitable business. The Red Flag Fleet would eventually clash with the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing dynasty of China, but no one could topple the pirate queen. After almost a decade of pillaging the high seas, Ching Shih decided piracy wasn’t the best retirement plan. In 1810, she walked into the office of a local governor-general, completely unarmed, and requested full pardons and government jobs for her entire crew — along with permission to keep all their stolen goods. In exchange, she promised to give up piracy for good. Thankful to be free of the Red Flag Fleet, the Chinese government agreed to her terms. Ching Shih’s second husband was even made an officer in the Chinese navy. Ching Shih returned to Canton with her vast wealth and spent the next 34 years living a life of comfort with her family and running a gambling den. In 1844, the legendary pirate queen passed away of old age at 69, a rare feat for pirates of her era.
Legend of the Pirate Queen
Ching Shih: History’s Most Successful Pirate
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