The Four Freedoms

Thanksgiving is a unique American Holiday that celebrates the blessings we have in the United States. This is Norman Rockwell's painting titled The Four Freedoms. I was initially drawn to the painting called Freedom from Want -- it reminds me of Thanksgiving. Actually there are 4 paintings:

Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Freedom from Want
Freedom from Fear

The Four Freedoms were goals that President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke in the State of the Union Address in 1942. It is often referred to as the Four Freedoms speech. Roosevelt listed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world":

Freedom of speech and expression
Freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear

Norman Rockwell painted the series in 1943, during World War II. He completed the series in seven months. The Saturday Evening Post published them in 1943. This Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for. I am incredibly blessed to be an American.


This is the Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation for 2011.