Thanksgiving: What It Means To Me

Each year on Thanksgiving, we gather with family and friends to thank God for the many blessings He has given us, and we ask God to continue to guide and watch over our country.

Almost 400 years ago, after barely surviving their first winter at Plymouth (sustaining a casualty rate of almost 40%), the Pilgrims celebrated a harvest feast to give thanks.

In 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first National Day of Thanksgiving and during the Civil War Abraham Lincoln revived the tradition. Since that time, our citizens have paused to express thanks for the bounty of blessings we enjoy and to spend time with family and friends.

In want or in plenty, in times of challenge or times of calm, we always have reasons to be thankful. Despite the challenges, despite the doubters, despite the nearly ceaseless stream of bleak tidings, let us not forget that America is a land of abundance, prosperity, and hope.

We must never take for granted the things that make our country great: A firm foundation of freedom, justice, and equality; a belief in democracy and the rule of law; and our fundamental rights to gather, speak, and worship freely.

Let us take a moment to thank those who have paid the ultimate price to secure and retain these liberties, for they do not come without cost. Throughout our nation's history, many have sacrificed to preserve our freedoms and to defend peace around the world.

Today, the brave men and women of our military, law enforcement and private services continue this noble tradition. These heroes and their loved ones have our gratitude. I am honored to have served as a veteran and to continue to work with law enforcement officers throughout the country.

Tomorrow, we should remember also those less fortunate among us. They are our neighbors and our fellow citizens, and we should commit ourselves to reaching out to them and to all of those in need in our communities.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for all of our blessings and for the freedoms we enjoy every day. Our Founders thanked God (as they believed Him to be) and humbly sought His wisdom and blessing. May we always live by that same trust, and I pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Which Leads the Way: Copywriting or Design?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Most of us know the rest: God created light, Earth, oceans, trees, animals, mankind.

Was God a designer? It certainly seems so. After all, before He got His hands on the universe, if you're a believer, there was no universe. But who wrote the plan? Who said, "OK, God, you want to have a universe? You want to build this vast amusement park for Your whims? Well, You need a plan. You need to hire me, a marketing copywriter, to help you write and implement this plan."

I know this sounds blasphemous, but is it possible that God hired a copywriting consultant to help Him build the plan to create the universe? And if He did, did the copywriter advise God about the whole creation campaign? Did God's copywriter advise God to create the first--and ultimate--viral marketing campaign (that's all of us bipeds, by the way)?!

I ask these questions because this evening my pal the Graphic Designer and I got into an argument over whether copywriting or design drives a project. Having had some tequila, I elevated our argument to the universal scale, wondering what God thought before He set about creating the universe.

Did He just start creating or did He--as certainly it seems--have a plan? And if He had a plan, He must have had some "Universe Consultant" advising Him. (Now that would be a pretty good consulting gig.)

My pal the Graphic Designer (add an 'O' between the words and you get God) believes that the copy should fit the design. I believe the opposite: That copy comes first and design should be built around the copy.

Certainly both positions have merit: On one hand, compelling design pleases the eye and engages readers with attractive and engaging graphics. Beautiful design is artistic, aesthetically appealing, helps visually tell a story, and can convey a message with greater impact far faster than copy.

On the other hand, compelling copy pleases the mind and engages readers by telling stories. Stories define us as humans; our history, our lives, are the sum of our stories. We have an insatiable desire to read stories and are influenced by them in many ways. Beautiful copy is artistic, intellectually appealing, and can convey a message with greater impact far longer than graphics.

My pal the Graphic Designer and I agreed on one thing: That all marketing and communications collateral--print and online--are vastly more effective when copywriters and designers work together throughout the duration of the project.

So God may have been the first graphic designer, but I'm sure He had a great marketing copywriter on His project team.