Everyone has different favorite holidays for one reason or another. I have always been fond of Thanksgiving for the obvious reasons like spending time with family, eating delicious food, and being off work. But, this year I discovered the real beauty in Thanksgiving and why it is without a doubt the best holiday.
Most of the time, the majority of us are so caught up in life that we sometimes forget how we are supposed to live. Think about it, we wake up, go to our jobs (which most of us hate), go home and sit in front of the tv until we go to sleep, then repeat the process. Like robots. Or we have a bad day and take it out on the next person we see that probably had nothing to do with the cause, not thinking of the effect it has on that person. Who knows, that person may end up doing the same thing to the next person creating a never ending chain of day ruining. Come on…there’s enough negativity going on in the world without us domino effecting more.
Like I said before, we all love Thanksgiving for obvious reasons, but there is one major thing that makes this holiday so great that gets so overlooked. The real reason is for one day of the year, we are all humans. What do I mean by that? For one day of the year, we all forget about how much we hate our jobs, life, each other or whatever. The outside world doesn’t consume our thoughts. We aren’t stressed over giving the perfect gifts, getting everything we asked for, dressing up in costumes for candy that we can buy at the store, or rationalizing getting drunk at the lake. The media isn’t talking about what/who is trying to end the world, we aren’t arguing over politics on Facebook, judging others on their religious views, or complaining about marriage rights. We aren’t black, white, Hispanic, or Martian. We are people. We forget all of our problems, all the negativity, and what everyone else is doing. For one day out of the year, we as a whole, are thankful for everything we are unbelievably blessed for. We aren’t thinking about all the things we don’t have and embrace those that we do have. For one day in the year we stop thinking of ourselves, help those less fortunate, and come together as a race of people.
I think what upsets me the most about the world is we spend most of the time worrying about ourselves and not appreciating how extremely fortunate we are to live the lives we live. We drown ourselves and those around us with our own misery and hatred because we think we have it so badly. Not on Thanksgiving. For one day of the year we express our gratitude for the friends and family we take for granted the other 364 days. We are human. For one day of the year, we are finally living how we were intended to live. With love, compassion, and gratitude towards everything and everyone we’ve been graced with. That is why Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever. (Which sadly is abruptly ended come Thursday night when all of the Black Friday sales go on. Oh the irony…’Merica.)
I can only imagine how incredible the world would be if we all lived like we do on thanksgiving more often.
With all of that being said, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude. I’m thankful for of course my family and friends, but also for clean water to drink, the food that is always on my plate, and the roof that is always over my head. I am blessed to live where I do and with the people that are in my life. I’m thankful for everyone that has helped me and supported me in my 22 years of life. I’m thankful for every sorrow, heart ache, and anger outburst I’ve encountered because it has shaped me into the kind, loving, and peaceful man I am. I’m thankful for every hard lesson I’ve ever learned and every obstacle I’ve had to overcome. Anything and everything that has even had the smallest impact on my life because it has shaped my existence today and I would not have it any other way. Lastly, I’m thankful for everyone reading this. Thank you for sacrificing valuable time out of your life to read my thoughts and I hope you enjoyed it.
