As Seth Godin so aptly states today, Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday: “No gifts, no guilt. Universal, even if it’s not celebrated on the same day everywhere…. Every day is Thanksgiving, because without the people we love and depend on, there’d be nothing.”
I agree we should give thanks and be grateful for the love around us, but it should be every day, not just once a year. Like Christmas, when we shower friends and family with gifts they may or may not need, we should be expressing that love every day, not just once a year.
And like Christmas, the true meaning of Thanksgiving has been lost. Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrated world-wide regardless of one’s religion. It is a time for Christians to honor the birth of Jesus Christ, whom they should be emulating with compassion, tolerance and selflessness. Sadly, the meaning of Christmas has gotten swallowed up in the mall crowd at 4AM on Black Friday.
How Thanksgiving came about cannot get swallowed up in our eating frenzy today, either. Yesterday, my daughter read a post left by my friend, David: ‘Enjoy your day tomorrow on “celebrate white people stealing a country from red people” day.’ She had a confused look on her face. Had she only been taught white man’s history? We should be studying Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present, not traditional history books.
I was moved to dig up this article that my friend, Derek, had shared earlier in the day. Please read Cooking the History Books: The Thanksgiving Massacre from the Republick of Lakotah, and be mindful of and grateful for the squash, corn, beans and turkey you are eating today.
Worth Reading:
