Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(Christmas 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Thanksgiving in America.
A group of Puritans, (later known as the Pilgrims), who
landed at Plymouth Rock, in what was to become the State
of Massachusetts, celebrated their first "Thanksgiving"
in 1620.
Governor William Bradford of New England proclaimed a
day of thanksgiving and prayer to celebrate the Pilgrim’s
first harvest in America.
 United
States President Abraham Lincoln designated a National
day of Thanksgiving in 1863.
Currently, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the United
States on the last Thursday of November.
So, what is this preamble leading up to? Just a report
on a trip that we made a month or so ago
This year, Sheena and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving
by taking a trip to Florida and visit Key West, which
is situated south of Miami, and slightly south of the
25th parallel. I believe Key West to be the most southerly
town in the United States.
We started our life in America 36 years ago in the north
west corner of the United States in Seattle, Washington,
and later resided in the south west corner of California
in San Diego, and also having visited the north easterly
town of Bangor, in the state of Maine, we now have achieved
our objective of visiting all four corners of the United
States of America.
Now you know why we traveled to Key West.
 In
recent years, the significance of Thanksgiving has been
somewhat desecrated by an interpretation that in lean
financial times, when downsizing, (modern day catch word
for layoff), is performed by companies to make their year
end financial statement appear more acceptable to the
investors.
The management call the recipients of layoff notices into
their office and give them a “Pink Slip” with
the words "Thanks, you’ve done a great job,
sorry---but for the good of the company we have to let
you go".
During my last five years, leading up to my retirement
in December of 1990, in my capacity as a Business Operations
Manager within the American Aerospace Industry, an integral
part of my job description, amongst many other duties,
was the hiring and firing of Engineering and other associated
personnel, and usually at this time of the year I spent
many days, and some restless nights, agonizing and trying
to put the situation into some sort of a perspective that
would enable me to come to terms with the list of personnel
who had been designated for release.
Of course this gives the departing worker a different
interpretation of Thanksgiving.
A sign of the times---A memorial to AIDS victims.
During our short visit to Key West we were unable to find
a parking space on the west side of the town in the area
of the cruise ship terminal and the surrounding streets
which thronged with tourists, so we headed for the much
quieter east coast where parking was plentiful.
 At
the entrance to a fishing pier we found a most interesting
memorial to the many local victims of the AIDS epidemic.
I’m afraid that I am unable to accept, and certainly
cannot condone, the life styles of certain individuals
which has led them to become victims of HIV and AIDS.
The memorial consisted of a number of black marble slabs
with the names of hundreds of local victims of the epidemic,
and I hope that no offence will be taken if I found it
in a way reminiscent of the Vietnam war memorial which
is dedicated to so many who died in Vietnam, but of course
under very different circumstances. The slabs instead
of being vertical are located horizontally on the ground
and adjacent to one of the slabs was the poignant message
carved in marble with the words of the poem written by
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1799-1883).
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to
have loved at all”.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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