Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Thanksgiving Day is a tradition that Abraham Lincoln established for his own reasons more than a century ago, reasons that have little, or perhaps nothing, to do with the reasons we continue to celebrate this feasting day today.
While one might think there would be little to argue over, after all, what could possibly be more American than a day dedicated to food and the eating of it, there have been the little controversies over the years that make the history of the day interesting. But for most people, Thanksgiving Day is a holiday thoughtlessly entered into, a day for sanctioned gluttony, of both food and football, and a day for family.
My family, both growing up and now, are not the kind of families that make Thanksgiving Day interesting. While some families have fights and arguments and there is a lot of drama, excitement is not something that my own family does all that well.
We are more the low key type, where an argument usually takes about three words, and the strongest epithet we can come up with is, "Whatever." [You would be surprised how much emotion you can pack into that one little word.] We aren't Norman Rockwell, but we aren't the Osbornes, either. The only argument that will probably be heard around here today is which movie we will watch this evening while we consume tasty leftovers, and even that will be half hearted.
Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy seeing my college aged son for the first time since he left in August, and inevitably, his oldest friends, as well. Although I must say, I simply cannot, for the life of me, comprehend why his homecoming has to be accompanied by the creation of hundreds of egg rolls in my kitchen the night before Thanksgiving, half of which are still occupying space in my fridge where the leftovers should be going later today. I mean, really? Whatever. [See how well that works?]
Of course, I should probably be happy that he is at home, spending time with us, since a lot of college students come home and aren't really seen again until they are asking for gas money to return to school. You have to wonder where they are getting their food and shower, but I digress.
Thanksgiving Day is also the day of the big Christmas push. I am not talking about the push in the stores to make sure all Christmas decorations are up, and the shilling of Santa is off and running. Frankly, if there really were a Santa, I think he would be appalled at what he has become - the spokesperson for every product under the sun for a month of the year, all in the name of making a buck. Wasn't the whole point that Santa brought you something unexpected as a gift? No cost?
I also experience that push in my own home, as my lovely daughter gears up for the holiday gifting season by getting her list of desired items in order. Indeed, this year she has created a beautiful Excel spread sheet, complete with clickable links, so I can see and experience her list live and in color. She is always a thoughtful girl, so she has even included pricing and location, just to make it really easy for me.
Her main item of desire this year is yet another pet, this time a bunny rabbit, which she believes she needs to keep as a companion in her room, which is apparently lonely with only a Betta fish named Taffy to keep her company. Somehow, I do not see a bunny and a Jack Russell Terrier in the same household ending well, but I suppose it's barely possible it could work.
It seems my daughter has, in fact, inherited a few traits from me, first and foremost, a love of animals that surpasses the reasonable, which causes her to want every animal in her own personal zoo. You'll have to stay tuned for the final decision on that one, since she isn't going to live at home forever, and that bunny has a rather long life span. Somehow, I do not see this ending well for me, either.
We have Thanksgiving traditions at our house, just like everyone else. Among other things, I enjoy decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day, swinging into the holiday spirit, so to speak. We put up the pretty decorations, and transform the house from the ordinary into something much more than itself, and suddenly, you start to feel the magic that is the Christmas season.
I have recently read a couple of articles on the fast forwarding of Christmas, and whether this might not be a bad idea, overall. I noticed even Nordstrom's, that ultimate in trendy spending, has put its well shod shoe down on the Christmas push. I learned they have refused to decorate their stores or start celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving has been appropriately recognized, apparently a consumerism bastion of sanity in the midst of mall world. Who knew? I laud that impulse, though, and if I could afford to do so, I would spend all my clothing dollars in their store, just to reward them for their sanity stance.
I would have to postulate that we are not better off for having a longer Christmas season. One of the things that makes Christmas so special is the very limited time offer that it is. It is the ultimate in short term thinking, the holiday that rushes past before we can even catch our breath. We barely have time to get used to the decorations and the colors and the fantasy that is being weaved before we suddenly, out of nowhere it seems, find ourselves walking into church to sing the age old carols that welcome the real Christ into our celebration.
Thanksgiving Day is too often overlooked, shoved aside by a retail world which seems to sell the idea that if there isn't buying and giving involved, it's not a real holiday. I think, on the contrary, that Thanksgiving Day, much like the Fourth of July, is a real festival day, the old fashioned kind that celebrates family and our good fortune to have been born in this wonderful country.
Whether you are financially wealthy or indigent, if you were born in the United States of America, or if you live here honestly and with the sanction of the government, anything is possible for you. I have seen people move from homeless shelter to home ownership in just a few years. You can come from nothing and become President. You can start a small business, although the IRS will surely be looking right over your shoulder on that one, and can go from no one to someone. I don't believe it was an accident that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were Americans, because I think that creative, pioneering spirit that led our ancestors to these shores, and kept them pushing into the unknown, is somehow instilled into every citizen.
We are a country with so much wealth, we are able to argue about whether, and how much of it, should be redistributed to those who are less fortunate. We are a country with so much goodness, we try to feed the world and solve its problems, even when there are no answers. We have marvelous resources, both natural and human, and we consistently put them to use to make our world a better place, even if we disagree on what that means in detail.
Although there is certainly poverty in this country, we are also a people of great compassion, and donate in amounts that are simply breathtaking. When I do my voluneteering for Community LINC, rehabbing an apartment for a homeless family trying to escape their circumstances, I am always overwhelmed by the generosity of people who want to give. The last time we did that work, we received so much bounty that we have shelves of goods left over, which we are saving for another family, because it was too generous, and we need to spread the wealth around.
Even the homeless will have a feast today, I hope, because in this country of ridiculous bounty, no one should be without on this day of food and family. I am thankful, and grateful, to be living in a country where the poor are looked upon with compassion, and we do to the least of them what we would wish for ourselves.
There are many times that I find myself complaining about the misfortunes in my own life. But today, Thanksgiving Day, I find my mind wandering across the globe to a place where there would be gratitude for the ability to simply put enough food on the table, and there would be no need to choose which child will eat today. I can go to the bank, and as long as I have put money in, I can take it out, while in other places, they have to stand in line each day to receive pennies back for the dollars deposited.
There is a place in this world where inflation is so extreme, it is measured in the millions of percent, while we complain about single digit inflation that makes the luxuries a little more costly for us. We complain about the price of gas, while people in other parts of the world do not even have bicycles.
Today, on Thanksgiving Day 2008, I look in the paper and realize how very, very blessed I have been. I reflect on the reality that I could have been born across the world, on the continent that is rightly called The Dark Continent, not because of skin color, but because of the lack of development and the lack of law and order and the lack of basic needs being met.
While they have a wealth of natural resources that should have made the continent a world leader, instead it is a world shame - a constant reminder that anarchy is the road to ruin, and that self-interest will destroy all opportunity. I am thankful today that I have been given the birth right of being a United States citizen, a passport into a club so exclusive that people the world over die for the opportunity to join.
On a more personal scale, I am also thankful for the things that everyone in this country will also give thanks for today - my wonderful family, the roof over my head, my lovely warm bed to sleep in every night. I have a decent opportunity to make a living doing an honest day's work, [if I can ever figure out what I want to be when I grow up, anyway,] I have food on the table, and clothes on our backs, and a future to look forward to in which good things may happen. In the end, if you have those things, you have everything you need. And for that, I am thankful.
Most important of all, I'm thankful I wasn't born a turkey (although I have been called that a time or two, I must admit.) I am thankful I will be the one eating, and not the one being eaten today.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours, from me and mine!
