Will the Real Thanksgiving Please Standup?
Thanksgiving, a day that comes each year in November, is when you gather around with family and friends to give thanks for all the wonderful things that have happened to you and the things and people that have enriched your life.
This day is steeped in tradition within your family and the nation.
There are the parades, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day one that celebrates…well, I’m not sure what it celebrates, but it’s a yearly event with lots of floats and marching bands and ends up with Santa Claus riding on his float, starting the season of gift buying.
There are football games, I believe, in Detroit and Dallas, clearly celebrating well… grown men who would rather play games than be with their families.
There’s the presidential pardoning of a turkey from being slaughtered and served for dinner. Clearly demonstrating how compassionate our nation can be. I often wonder what happens to all those pardoned turkeys. Do they now reside in an old-turkey home for retired poultry?
And there are the family get-togethers that occurred annually up until 2 years ago, when they became hybrid events, if at all, due to Covid. The gathering of people, some of which you only see once a year and whose political opinions vary such that following the Thanksgiving celebration, you are glad it will be another year before you see them again.
But to get back to Thanksgiving. Why is it necessary to designate a day to give thanks for all we have? Shouldn’t that be the norm for every day?
“I’m sorry, I really appreciate what you have done for me, but I can’t say “Thanks” until the 4th Thursday in November.”
Add to that, I don’t think we should do things for others because we are looking for someone to say “Thanks,” or in some cases, because we are looking to get something back in return.
Being thankful and grateful are things we should feel year-round. If one is empathetic and compassionate, doing things for others should be a given. Yes, I agree that getting thanks and appreciations makes us feel good for what we do, and we should all say “thanks” to others more than we do. But all the special parades and games we do on that day are not, in my humble opinion, recognizing how much we should be grateful for. For kids, it’s just celebrating two days off from school. For adults, it’s the anxiety of getting everything ready for this family event and possibly preparing to get trampled to death the next day, doing Christmas shopping.
So let’s make Thanksgiving an everyday event. We can save the 4th Thursday in November as a day to just relax and have fun. We can call it Give Ourselves a Break Day.
I thank you all for hearing me out.
