In a Nutshell: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the most American of all holidays. Though it is often forgotten in the commercially-driven retail world — which simultaneously sells Halloween and Christmas items while paying no heed to turkey day — Thanksgiving is a time for family, travel and, of course, food.

Our culture has largely become one of laziness and overeating, so what holiday represents those values better than Thanksgiving?

Does anyone even know why we celebrate Thanksgiving? The origin is clear enough — Thanksgiving started as a celebration of the harvest. But why are we still doing it?

Most people in the U.S. don’t farm and thus have no harvest, and the farmers we do have no longer sell their crops directly to us.

While I’m not opposed to getting time away from school and work to see my family, the meaning of contemporary Thanksgiving is totally lost on me.

Do we celebrate as a result from heavy lobbying from the turkey industry?

Many people use Thanksgiving as a time to acknowledge all the things in their lives they are thankful for. It’s a sad state if you can only recognize the good things in your life once a year.

How does eating too much food celebrate those things, anyway? If you say you’re thankful for your health and then eat two pounds of turkey, gravy and potatoes, are you really thankful for your health?

So celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family and think about the things you’re thankful for. Then share some of it with those who don’t have what you’ve been granted.

-John Hines, Opinion Editor