Are We Thankful?

It’s once again that time of year. People are haphazardly making plans concerning who will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which TV the game will be on and discussing who burnt the pumpkin pie last year. After all of this is settled, the talk will change to discussion of getting up at 4:00 in the morning for the Black Friday shopping spree the following day.

Why is more emphasis put on shopping the next day than the celebration of the day? Originally when we sat down to our Thanksgiving dinner, it was to honor a piece of early American history. The story of the Pilgrims and Native Americans served as a good reminder for all of us to be thankful for what we have--no matter how much or how little. With these economic times, things for most are sadly leaning towards the little. However this isn’t deterring the polishing off of the running shoes for the marathon shopping.

Over two centuries after the first Thanksgiving, President Abraham Lincoln saw it as a way to unite the country, and he, in 1863, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving celebration on the last Thursday in November. It was changed from the last Thursday to the third Thursday by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 as a way to lengthen the Christmas shopping holiday. However in 1941, Roosevelt finally changed the date back to the fourth Thursday in November, proclaiming it a Federal holiday in 1941.

Proclaimed a Federal Holiday… interesting thought. Since November 1^st it isn’t thanksgiving songs playing on the radio. It isn’t a barrage of thanksgiving sales commercials on the television. We make a big deal out of most every other holiday, except for this one. Why is that? Is it we feel we have nothing to be thankful for because we are so far in debt, or the bank repo’ed the car. Maybe it’s because the mortgage company is calling daily? Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves, perhaps we should stop to think of how many families won’t even have the table to put the food on this year. The grass is very seldom greener on the other side. In fact it’s, at best, wilting. So this year, before you rush your family out the door so you can get to bed early, how about hugging them and say “I’m thankful I got to see you at least one more time this year.”

Let’s Discuss It.

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Are We Thankful?

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