On Thanksgiving

Over the past few days, it's begun. My Facebook feed is filling up with status messages about Thanksgiving.

"I won't be taking part in your THURSDAY shopping spree. It's wrong to take people away from their families on a holiday!"

"Uh, guys, did you forget that there's a holiday between Halloween and Christmas? Be thankful!"

I should note that neither of these are direct quotes, but rather an amalgamation of different threads of thought that I have noticed. And I love you all, my dear Facebook friends, but you're frustrating me.

Thursday shopping - a pre-Black Friday - is an attempt to make a profit. We live in a culture that revolves around producing and consuming. It's a waste of time to scold a business for attempting to make money. That's why they exist. And we need them to exist. But here's the problem. Because of our culture of consumption, we see buying things as a positive. And it becomes even more of a positive when it's a deal.

We want something for nothing. And when we can't get something for nothing, we're at least going to get it for 75% off. We'll stand in line for hours, punch people in the face to rip a toy from their hands, and trample anyone who gets in our way. It's a dismaying glimpse at the power of greed.

All of that greed conspires to make working Black Friday a miserable experience. I can't imagine that working Thanksgiving will be any less miserable. The argument is, potentially, that it will be even more miserable because of the number of people torn away from their families on a holiday. It's terrible that people aren't able to spend enough time with their families. I love my family. I have a lot of empathy for people who have to work on holidays. I've done it and hated it. But it's disingenuous to say that an arbitrarily chosen date is the wrong time to indulge in a capitalistic orgy of spending - these kinds of things should be saved for Friday where they belong: wait until after midnight.

If you're worried about the retailers and the developing trend of extended sales, stay home. I hope you do. I will. But don't hug that to your chest as an achievement that indicates your superior understanding. Recognize that you are speaking from a place of privilege. What about the kids who are only getting a Christmas present because their grandmother got an amazing deal in a sale? Or because their father was able to pick-up some overtime working the Thanksgiving shift? Forget presents even - what about those who are able to take advantage of the sales to feed and clothe themselves and their families? Attacking retailers for trying to do what they are designed to do is, in the end, a likely ineffective attack on the symptom of what is, really, a much larger disease.

The second strain of thought, the outcry against the apparent forgetting of Thanksgiving because of the expanding Christmas season, is similarly reductive. Don't get me wrong. I am very thankful that my country was formed, I just think it's slightly ridiculous to idealize a single moment as the epitome for which I must be thankful. And that's not even my biggest problem with all of these complaints.

There seems to be a high level of concern that Thanksgiving will be forgotten. This perspective, while understandable, makes it feel like Thanksgiving is an item on a list. We need to celebrate it, and celebrate it properly, so that we can say we have fulfilled our obligation to be thankful this year. Then we can move on to Christmas.These two things do not exclude the other. You can be excited about Christmas and happy about Thanksgiving. You can even be thankful for Christmas.

I've done some Christmas shopping, I've hung lights. I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving because I have the ability to think about more than one thing at a time. I drink pumpkin spice lattes and peppermint mochas. (Yes, I know I have a coffee addiction.) Thankfulness should be a consistently cultivated attitude.

One of the few things I remember about my great grandmother, and I only remember being told about it, is her habit of writing down each day one thing for which she was thankful. There is a date in one of her old day planners in which I was a part of her thanksgiving.

That is something for which to strive - an attitude which perceives the world through a lens of gratitude.