As another Thanksgiving has passed, I started thinking of the joyous holiday which leaves most of us stuffed. Thanksgiving is a wonderful concept which doesn’t exactly live up to its billing in practice.
As one of the most widely celebrated holidays in America, it leaves me puzzled as to whether this holiday is a ‘holiday’ or simply a personal day. Perhaps in today’s circuit charged lifestyle, a personal day is a holiday, a holiday in the sense of spiritual bonding with one’s inner core values. Are we so distant from our values that the day of ‘thanks’ in America just means a day of respite? Can we not strive to be elevated human beings with our G-dliness creating greater meaning for ourselves?
Today’s Thanksgiving, in my opinion has lost much of the luster from days of old. Admittedly, for me the greatest expression of thanks on this particular day is “Thanks for no traffic”. What a relief to seemingly float over the freeways like a hovercraft. Just wait for Black Friday to really appreciate no crowds.
For most people Thanksgiving, aside from a day together with family, represents cooking, turkey, and football. Now, of course, Thanksgiving represents the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday.
The Ralph’s parking lots were built with Thanksgiving Day in mind. The lot is half full every other day of the year, but on Thanksgiving it’s packed, with barely a spot to be found. People comment for days on blogs and on TV, as to how they’ll be able to cook a five course meal on this auspicious day. Funny, you don’t find many Jewish housewives interviewed – probably because they prepare these meals weekly for Shabbat.
Spending time with family and bonding with relatives is a wonderful idea, but is that what Thanksgiving is all about? Did we miss something about the holiday? Perhaps we need to take a fresh look at Thanksgiving. We should celebrate our Thanksgiving in a different manner, by preparing checklists as to what we should be thankful for, before the holiday. By thanking the Almighty for the goodness he has done for us. By praising the compassion that G-D bestows upon us. Thank G-D for the daily miracles that we take for granted, the breathing, the thinking, the eating, and the walking miracles, the ones that we can’t live without.
Make your checklist count. Before you write your Black Friday list, make a list for Thanksgiving. You can add the pumpkin, but make sure to write the thanks for having the gift of life first.
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