Thanksgiving: Not Aptly Named for Most People

Every year, Thanksgiving rolls around in that awkward space  between Halloween and Christmas. But what does Thanksgiving truly mean to people nowadays? It seems that every day I see Facebook posts and tweets about how awesome it is that we don’t have school or work over Thanksgiving break. But do people actually take the time to be thankful for what they have?  I think not. How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving? I’m just assuming that it is by having a huge turkey dinner surrounded by family and friends. Do you truly give thanks for what you have during that time? I would hope so, but unfortunately, I don’t think it happens. I am just as guilty of this lack of gratefulness, but I am trying to change it one article at a time. This year, I will see my family for a huge turkey dinner, but I also gave a full bin of canned goods to our local homeless shelter. These cans included green beans, cranberry sauce and other things you’d want to see on your own Thanksgiving table.  Next year, I would like to volunteer at a homeless shelter during the dinner rush instead of gorging myself. Why? Because doing things like that truly help you appreciate what you do have.

In addition to actually being thankful for what we have, we should also think about the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday. Even if we pretended to think about everything we are grateful for, we ruin all of that the next day by shopping until our hearts are content for a bunch of deals that we probably don’t need.

I know this kind of ended up being a rant against Thanksgiving, but the moral of this story is please, please actually think about what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving. There are many people out there that are in a worse situation than you, and you should not take anything you have for granted.