Thanksgiving Time.
It's 2AM here in Arizona. I ended up driving all the way out here on a spur-of-the-moment drive, because my grandfather was in the hospital. It turns out that in actuality he is fine and required no surgery as previously thought, which means that coming out here was slightly unnecessary. However, I don't mind the break; it's actually really nice. No school/work for the next two days (sad when that is considered a luxury) and a nice way to breathe a bit of different air.
It's Thanksgiving tomorrow (today) and again I can't help but think about what all of that entails. I never really understood the holiday. Looking at it as just a general, "thanks to those who deserve it" makes sense, but odd that it gained such prominence. A historical event that is being celebrated is a bit sketchy too, considering the results of Native American/Anglo-Saxon relations. And somewhere, somehow, some people have to throw in that this is, indeed, a religious holiday as if God Himself ordained it along with the harvest holidays that Christians routinely ignore is a part of their Bible, too.
The cynic in me (which is small, and slightly humorous, but a loud minority rather than a majority) sees the holiday as, in some regard, a holiday celebrating greed and excess, and there is something really not cool about that. Greed and excess are the two main issues I've had personally, mirroring the problems with our current society. But, to speak more personally, in the past few months, I've been recognizing that a lot of my problems stem from greed and excess, in many ways. Physically, it's obvious; I abstained almost entirely from physical fitness and ate enough for three people. But even in a more practical, general sense, it was gluttony of pleasure that has put me in the lower rung than I should be; it was for the countless hours I've spent lying around doing nothing, rather than using a mere quarter of that time in school and being a lot better, or half of that time and being a good student, active individual and healthier person. Coming across my twentieth Thanksgiving, a part of me feels that going to the holiday with the same punch I usually do (directly: eating as much as I can) is somewhat the wrong approach.
It's difficult, but I'm trying to celebrate as I believe the holiday was originally intended: a celebration of the bounty and wealth in one's life, and to recognize all of the good around you. Amazing how different from the concept that it is a holiday that enshrines greed and excess, eh? So it is with most things, I'm figuring out.
Have a good holiday, everyone. Christmas-era officially begins in twenty-two hours.
It's Thanksgiving tomorrow (today) and again I can't help but think about what all of that entails. I never really understood the holiday. Looking at it as just a general, "thanks to those who deserve it" makes sense, but odd that it gained such prominence. A historical event that is being celebrated is a bit sketchy too, considering the results of Native American/Anglo-Saxon relations. And somewhere, somehow, some people have to throw in that this is, indeed, a religious holiday as if God Himself ordained it along with the harvest holidays that Christians routinely ignore is a part of their Bible, too.
The cynic in me (which is small, and slightly humorous, but a loud minority rather than a majority) sees the holiday as, in some regard, a holiday celebrating greed and excess, and there is something really not cool about that. Greed and excess are the two main issues I've had personally, mirroring the problems with our current society. But, to speak more personally, in the past few months, I've been recognizing that a lot of my problems stem from greed and excess, in many ways. Physically, it's obvious; I abstained almost entirely from physical fitness and ate enough for three people. But even in a more practical, general sense, it was gluttony of pleasure that has put me in the lower rung than I should be; it was for the countless hours I've spent lying around doing nothing, rather than using a mere quarter of that time in school and being a lot better, or half of that time and being a good student, active individual and healthier person. Coming across my twentieth Thanksgiving, a part of me feels that going to the holiday with the same punch I usually do (directly: eating as much as I can) is somewhat the wrong approach.
It's difficult, but I'm trying to celebrate as I believe the holiday was originally intended: a celebration of the bounty and wealth in one's life, and to recognize all of the good around you. Amazing how different from the concept that it is a holiday that enshrines greed and excess, eh? So it is with most things, I'm figuring out.
Have a good holiday, everyone. Christmas-era officially begins in twenty-two hours.