Nestled between extravagant Halloween costumes and sugar highs, useless gifts and mounds of discarded wrapping paper is a holiday we call Thanksgiving.
Sometimes it is hard to remember this day because in our culture that is so focused on getting more, the concept of an entire day to give thanks for what we already have is odd.
Subsequently,Thanksgiving, because it is not entirely religious, but not secular enough to warrant bad behavior, is quickly overlooked in bombardment of Christmas decorations, toys and gift ideas.
But in the midst of an unresolved conflict overseas, football games that have gotten so far out of hand that they have the potential to lead to civil war, the rush to get to Nov. 27 to begin holiday shopping and final exams, I fear that we miss the meaning of one of the most meaningful holidays we have.
Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays around which it seems that everyone can unite and celebrate.
Unlike most of the biggest and most commercial holidays, Thanksgiving has less potential to exclude people who are of different cultures, religions or ethnicities. Instead it highlights something all people have in common – something to be thankful for.
Whether it is a person, experience, a tangible thing or inanimate object we all have something in our lives for which we should be thankful.
Yet Christmas, which many people claim does not fall on the actual birthday of Jesus Christ, Mardi Gras, which though loosely religiously affiliated for Catholics means little more to most of us than a break from school, beads and partying in New Orleans, and Halloween, which is a chance to dress up and get candy, get all the attention, the special aisles in stores and the most days off school. (Make no mistake, I do not want to reduce the number of days we get off for the other holidays, but it is a testament to the values of our society that we get so little time off for a significant holiday.)
Why does such a meaningful holiday get overlooked? Unfortunately, the answer is because we do not make it meaningful enough.
Thanksgiving should be something really wonderful. It ought to be a celebration of life, health, family, and the ones we love.
Instead we make the focus of Thanksgiving food, football and preparation for shopping.
As a society, too often we get caught up in what we don’t have, what we are going to get and what we wish we were getting that we forget about what we already have and why we should be glad to have it.
Too many people take Thanksgiving so much for granted that they do not go home to be with family and when they do they do not even sit in the same room to eat Thanksgiving dinner, let alone around the same table.
Instead we take our food and sit in front of the TV, to our rooms or wherever we can get away from everyone else.
In the rare instances when everyone sits at the same table, we roll our eyes when our parents, grandparents or whomever suggest we all go around the table and say what we are thankful for.
So this Thursday before we grab our food and run away from everyone else, inhale it down and then take a nap in front of the TV, before we start making a list of the items we want for Christmas and before we start mapping out a plan for getting to every store in the mall before 10 a.m., we should count our friends, blessings or whatever it is you want to count.
Then when you reach a grand total, take a moment and be thankful for it – really, genuinely thankful.
Remember – even though someone may have more than you do, you always could have less.