Today is Thanksgiving, and it's been a slow, quiet day. I've taken a couple of naps already, and am contemplating taking a third.
I don't typically think of being grateful for anything on Thanksgiving. I just enjoy getting together with family for some good conversation and a good meal. This year isn't much different, but I have thought a bit about what I should be grateful due to some things I've read on the internet. I frequent a few bulletin boards, and have seen posts today where holier-than-thou haters of the current presidency and/or state of America have seen fit to lecture the rest of us on being grateful, or rather, on how none of us are really grateful and how this holiday is built on generations of lies about what Thanksgiving was versus what it has become.
It's interesting how there is always a segment of society who wants to ruin the things people love by trying to remind them of their heritage. Christmas is another example. I don't celebrate it for religious reasons, but I do celebrate it because I enjoy the lights, the trees and the good feelings that surround it. Sure, it may have once been a pagan festival that was replaced by a Christian holiday, but that means little to me. The meaning of words, dates and events often changes over time, but that doesn't mean that we have to focus on their original meaning. For some, Thanksgiving may be a symbol of Europeans taking something that wasn't theirs and making it their own, but for me, it's a time to rest and enjoy life with people I care about...and that's just fine by me.
