Happy Thanksgiving 2017
By
Michael The Libertarian
This is the time of year that probably most shows the divide in
America and Americans.
Thanksgiving
Day could be the country's first declared
religious holiday. To be sure, Christmas predates it, but Christmas
was just always “assumed” to be a day when almost no one in the
country opened their shop (This would include government “shops”).
Just a few words in defense of Thanksgiving Day, before I get to the
meat of the issue:
Thanksgiving, while originally a “religious” holiday has come to
be a uniquely American holiday (anticipating all the hate mail I'm
about to get: Canadia is part of North America for those of you in
Poughkeepsie).
The aura of God doesn't hang heavy in the atmosphere. I know no one
who goes to church on Thanksgiving. Instead, we Americans tend to
celebrate the “Three 'F's”; family, football, and food.
I prioritized those words that way strictly out of personal
preference. For my money, family has to come first, especially if I'm
thinking about things for which I'm thankful.
When I speak about family, I am not only speaking about people to
whom I related by blood. Not everyone grows up in a picturesque,
Norman Rockwell-inspired setting. I include all the people I love and
all the people who've proven their love for me.
Many years ago, my (now “ex”) wife and I used to host a dinner,
the day after Thanksgiving Day for our friends who had no families or
who had families from whom they were estranged. Little did I know I
would be one of those people just a few years later.
When I look around my table and see the happy faces of people who've
been drawn to me and have drawn me to them, the feeling that comes
over me is indescribable. I feel like the luckiest man on the planet.
Then, there's football! One would have to be the most anti-American
communist, to my thinking, to not enjoy football. It is one of the
three games that sums up the American Spirit (as far as how this
nation was built).
I have extolled the virtues of football, many times, but suffice it
to say; it is exciting, and riveting. It draws us to it be appealing
to our animal nature.
On top of all of that, it is an amazing way to teach tactics and teem
work to our young men. I have often said if I am hiring someone and
two candidates are otherwise equal but one played organized football
and one didn't, the football player is my guy.
Food. Ah, food! The only drug which we can never fully remove
ourselves from its addictive ways! Seriously, I have never been
accused of being an epicurean. Truth be told, there are (many) days I
could swallow a vitamin supplement pill and be just as happy as if
I'd eaten three squares a day. Then, there are other days …
More often than not, Thanksgiving is one of those days. I can lose
myself in a beautifully moist turkey breast with mashed sweet
potatoes with those little marshmallows in it and jellied cranberry
sauce and corn and …
Okay. I just went to Coney Island there, for a moment. I told you I
could get lost!
Now, to the part I promised, at the very top; the great divide.
Thanksgiving seems to be the kick-off of the “Anti-Christian
Olympics”. Suddenly, the Anti-theists crawl out from under
whichever rock they've been hiding for ten months and start their
assault on religious holidays, in particular and Theism, in general.
We're warned about expressing any outwardly positive sentiments about
our beliefs regarding the time of year. You see, not just Christians,
but particularly, Christians, wishing others the joys and goodwill
represented by the season is “offensive” to people who claim to
have no belief in a Higher Power.
Unfortunately,
they show, by their actions, that it is not just a non-belief in a
deity which drives them. They have this over-powering internal need
to wipe out anyone's
belief in a deity.
It's not the guy who walks past a manger display, shaking his head
and thinking: “Why are these people so weak, they need to be so
dependent on some invisible 'sky wizard'? What is wrong with them?”
It's the guy (or group) that prowls the earth seeking the ruination
of any symbol that hints at a deity. They protest and file lawsuits
because if they can't “get it”, “it” shouldn't be available
to anyone. It's why I don't generally call them Anti-theists.
Usually, I call them “God haters”. They have an agenda that isn't
about being left alone. It's about building their “Utopian Society”
where they never have to have their fragile little (non-)belief ever
endangered by people, wishing each other a “Merry Christmas”.
Somehow, that phrase is going to bring about the down-fall of
Anti-theism, everywhere.
They seem, to me, to be very sad or angry people.
My friends, I want to be the first to wish you all: Happy
Thanksgiving Day, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year's Day (also a
religious holiday which I'll discuss at a later date)!
As you're sitting around the table, today, please think about the
things for which you're thankful. If you could include, the people
who keep us safe and those who fell, while trying to do that job, I
would consider it a boon. Ask your family to do the same. Make a
decision to go out and spread the joy and goodwill the season is
supposed to engender in our hearts … then, you can wake up early
the next day and pound the tar out of someone, trying to get that
last 60” XHD television on sale at your favorite retailer.
- Michael
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