Dear Canada Happy Thanksgiving

I just read a viral news article. On purpose, I did not put in the names of the people because this is my image of Canada. It is a nation full of kindness and compassion. Canadians are prone to saying "I'm sorry" for the smallest transgressions. I love the Canadian spirit and today I celebrate with all of Canada.

Here's the story.

Over the 30-minute bus ride, a man with cerebral palsy says a man held his hand, leaned on him, hugged him and also kissed his hands throughout the ride.

"I just allowed it, like what am I going to do?" The young student says. "Sometimes you just have to be selfless and put someone else's needs above yours."

A family member of the man with cerebral palsy later contacted the student on Facebook and thanked him for comforting their uncle. They also told him their uncle suffered from cerebral palsy and was deaf.

There is no better Thanksgiving story but as they say in a popular radio show in the U.S., here's the rest of the story of Canadian Thanksgiving.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England, in search of the Northwest Passage. His third voyage, to the Frobisher Bay area of Baffin Island in the present Canadian Territory of Nunavut, set out with the intention of starting a small settlement. His fleet of fifteen ships was outfitted with men, materials, and provisions.

However, the loss of one of his ships through contact with ice, along with many of the building materials, was to prevent him from doing so. The expedition was plagued by ice and freak storms, which at times scattered the fleet; on meeting again at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, "... Mayster Wolfall a minister and preacher, gave a sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankful to God for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places".

Years later, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, from 1604, also held feasts of thanks. They even formed the Order of Good Cheer and held feasts with their First Nations neighbors, at which food was shared.

After the Seven Years' War ended in 1763, with New France handed over to the British, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving days were observed beginning in 1799 but did not occur every year.

After the American Revolution, American refugees who remained loyal to Great Britain moved from the newly independent United States to Canada. They brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada, such as the turkey, pumpkin, and squash.

So there you go. A heathy dare everyone to show one random act of kindness to honor our friends in Canada. Join a movement of kindness and compassion.

Be Canadian for a day.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.