Thanks? Selfish Bastard ...

Thanksgiving fast approaches. You wouldn't know it by watching TV ... Hell, Thanksgiving is nothing more than a brief rest stop on the highway to Christmas Town.

"No," you say ... "Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate family, blessings and football." "Thanksgiving is a day to count the many ways in which we have been blessed with love and kindness and family and equality and freedom and blah, blah, blah."

Uh, No. Maybe, if you were a pilgrim fearing for your life .. you offered a bird full of buckshot to someone who's land you inhabited, unwelcomed and feared, promising to not encroach upon that someone's life by professing your own beliefs of humanity's purpose ... well, then, maybe, if you weren't dismissed as different and summarily executed you could execute your own Godliness and claim righteousneous as your own ...

But, let's not talk about the Tea Party ... this is about Thanksgiving. This is a day that makes one pause, bow a head and take into account the many, many blessings that have enriched ones' life during the past year. The trials that matured into lessons .. the losses that matured into riches ... the relationships that blossomed into nourishing, revitalizing soul-enriching  partnerships despite the odds ...

This is Thanksgiving. And, if you can count yourself as one of the chosen above, then, by all means, celebrate. This is your week. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, is your day. Eat up, fucker. Stand in  a circle with your family, hold hands, and one by one give thanks for one thing that you are thankful for before you attack that 15-lb turkey and dry stuffing.

Sound harsh? probably.... as I was listening to  music tonight I was taken back to an earlier time ... the late 70's ... an era searching for direction ... and my feeble mind connected to a time when family was a word synonymous with 'blanket'. Family surrounded and warmed me ... Ok, ok ... so, I didn't see Thanksgiving as anything more than a  time  to stand in line to scoop mashed potatoes and grab a homemade roll any more than I might now ... But, Thanksgiving was a time to gather with family, gaze at the old folks who smelled like mothballs and wonder who was not gonna be  there next year.

Morbid? Yeah. But, it was family. And, as odd as it may seem, most of American society approached Thanksgiving in much the same way. It was a day to appreciate not the history of the Pilgrims suckering the Indians into a meal in order to steal their land and way of life. Don't worry that the Pilgrims and those that followed smiled and slowly finagled their way into ownership of  a land through offerings of food and wampum ...

Now, as I age and attempt to delay my own mortality, I see that Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that is on the verge of becoming another 'day off' from work. I'm not one that sees Thanksgiving as being as important as say, oh, Arbor Day, but I have fond memories of Thanksgiving Day.

Today, as I was thumbing through the channels, I stumbled upon the Biography Channel. Normally, the Biography Channel is rife with features about quasi-celebrities ... but today the feature story was the Bee Gees.

I love the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees are ingrained in my past as voices that spoke to me when I needed them. I won't elaborate too much, but I can say that one of the most difficult times of my life, in my pre-teen years, was made a bit better by harmony of falsetto voices paired with stomps and heartfelt choruses.

This is my Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving occurs each time I listen to a song that takes me back to a moment that I can remember. My Thanksgiving occurs each time that I receive a text from my mom... my sister... my dad. My Thanksgiving occurs every morning when I turn my head and look into the face of unconditional love, Pam.

Thanksgiving isn't a holiday any longer. Thanksgiving is a a signal that it's time to spend money for Christmas. Thanksgiving has run it's course ... as a holiday it's no more than a meal served after hours of toil and preparation. Thanksgiving isn't thanks giving at all. Thanksgiving is nothing more than a celebration of one's own ability to accommodate those who will critique the turkey as being too dry or the stuffing as being bland.

At the first Thanksgiving the guests of honor, the native Americans, would shrug while the Pilgrim men and women presenting the meal would be grateful if they weren't killed for having lumps in the mashed potatos. Today, we endure a meal and insignificant football games in order to ready ourselves for the rush to the shopping mall the next day. Thanksgiving isn't about thanks at all ... Thanksgiving day is the starting gate and the following midnight is the bell that signals the all-out race to Christmas.

Jesus once said of Thanksgiving, " ....... uhhhhh"..

Jesus didn't know of Thanksgiving.

No one gives Thanks anymore. I'd be willing to bet that on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, most will not  even say 'Thank You' when passed the gravy. It''s expected that the gravy will be passed. Hell, it's your right to have the gravy, eh? You earned it... ...

You're welcome.