Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Be Thankful for What You've Got

Now that Halloween is over, the stores are in full swing for Christmas- with decorations, toys and sales out in full force. And, if you look real hard, some Thanksgiving decorations are in there too.
 
I'm not really sure which angers me more- my wife trying to buy Thanksgiving decorations, the lack of them in the stores, or the fact that the stores basically overlook Thanksgiving.
 
Don't get me wrong- the birth of Jesus is very important. We should celebrate it. A lot. But somehow, I don't think that the aisles and aisles of tacky decorations, self-illuminated trees and Christmas Barbies are all that religiously significant. More like a way to seperate greedy fools from their money.
 
Thanksgiving is the celebration of being thankful for what we have- not of what we can get. We're all told the story as children of the poor pilgrims who didn't plan for winter and the indians (or Native Americans, if you prefer) brought them food and basically kept their dumb asses alive. The Pilgrims are very thankful in this tale. And our tradition of gorging ourselves and inviting others to our home to do the same comes from this thankfulness.
 
So should we be running out to buy up a bunch of turkey decorations? No. We should be happy with what we have. Make do with what we have and be grateful we have even that. Does that mean the stores' lack of turkey stuff mean they grasp the make do with what you have philosophy? No, they just want to get a jump on the holiday sales. And in so doing, they've brainwashed our populace into buy, buy, buy on November 1st.
 
So when you're out, driving like an idiot in an effort to steal parking spaces, or shuffling along like the undead in the stores, Christmas list in one hand, coupons in the other, be thankful. Be thankful for something. The coupons, the fact you have money to spend, or maybe the fact you live in a country that allows you the freedom to act so foolishly.
 
 

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