MKTPeterson.blog: The two days Americans everywhere should have off -#1 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and let’s be real-it’s America’s forgotten holiday (sort-of). With the Christmas season upon us (I think the Christmas season begins in July and ends somewhere around Martin Luther King’s birthday) and the big booey season of Halloween getting most of the pumpkin spice lattes it gets partially lost in the shuffle unless you’re the one who’s agreed to host the family feast and ensure everyone’s mouth is too full of turkey to talk politics.

But I would like to propose we as Americans rediscover Thanksgiving and ensure everyone gets to celebrate it by making sure all but critical workers I.E. Fire-fighters on hand to put out the fires started by someone deep frying a turkey in their garage, police officers directing traffic around a hopefully minor traffic accident where two cars crashed on an icy bridge over the river leading through the woods on their way to grandmother’s house, hospital workers of all kinds (doctors, nurses, orderlies, etc) to deal with bad salmonella poisoning from undercooked turkeys, tow-truck drivers to clear out those wrecked cars from the icy bridge the police were directing traffic around, and possibly hotels where Aunt Edith & Uncle Archie decided to stay rather than put up with cousin Mikes pontificating about how the 2020 election was stolen still in 2023. All other places must be shut down. You want food? Make sure you have plenty before all grocery stores & restaurants shut down by 12:01 am on Thanksgiving morning and a functioning oven and/or microwave if you have to spend Thanksgiving alone which I would say the vast majority of people do not. Also, make sure you have plenty of gas and/or a short distance to walk if you have to in order to go to your Thanksgiving destination because by the dawn’s early light on Thanksgiving day all gas stations should be dark to ensure gas station workers enjoy the great American feast and no Ubering/Lyfting/cabbieing/bussing/flying/train or trolley ridding either for rides. Try and see if the Thanksgiving host will let you crash at their place for 24-48 hours before the feast if you bring them a bottle or two fine chardonnay and a promise to wash dinner/desert dishes for twelve or more along with the turkey pan and green bean casserole container. Yes, I know Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving if some people don’t see Riley Patterson[i] or Brandon Aubry[ii] kick off the football toward their opponent’s side of the field but no football or even TV (Think of the camera operators, broadcast engineers, not to mention beer vendors at Ford Field and ATT stadium on the Thanksgiving Holiday in addition to the all of the football players). Maybe a lone TV news reporter. broadcast engineer, cameraman and TV writer could work in case something major happens in the world/US that could affect all of us but otherwise TV should just have the computer program reruns of all of the Christmas specials people love for the holidays and Macys should move their parade to the morning of Black Friday instead.

Now why Thanksgiving you may be asking yourself is the day everything in America should be shut down instead of Christmas when a lot of those places do completely shut down? Simple. Christmas is primarily a religious holiday. Don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact when I worked for a major grocery store chain it was the one day a year I was guaranteed to have off because it was the one day a year the store was completely shut down. Nonetheless there is no compelling solely American reason for all of those places to be closed on Christmas day. I as a devout Catholic need to get myself to church on that day so I can greet the newborn baby Jesus with a chorus of “Adeste Fideles” at the top of my lungs in as close of a key to G Major as I can although I’m sure the Blessed Virgin Mother would perhaps prefer a quiet round of “Silent Night”. That is all I am required to do. The decorating of Christmas trees, baking gingerbread cookies and chasing them down with the eggnogg that was supposed to be for Santa, completely optional. However, I know not all Americans are Catholic or even Christian.

For example, Tom Cruise is a very famous Scientologist. I only have a vague sense of what a Scientologist believes and I’m not sure what would constitute a holy day of obligation or even holy day for a Scientologist. Maybe it’s L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday (March 13). Maybe there’s a day around the world where Scientologists gather to celebrate those who have moved up to the level of Operating Thetan. Maybe there’s a day that commemorates when lord Xenu killed 70 million aliens on earth 70 million years ago. So, whatever that holy Scientology day is the producers of “Mission Impossible” number whatever are legally obliged to fly Mr. Cruise from whatever exotic international locale he just performed some spectacular death-defying stunt back to LA so Cruise can worship L. Ron Hubbard or lord Xenu with his BFF David Miscavige courtesy of the 1^st amendment of the US Constitution. Meanwhile I’m guaranteed by that same 1^st amendment to respectfully view Mr. Cruise’s beliefs as completely insane. Conversely, Mr. Cruise is equally guaranteed by the 1^st amendment to respectfully view my ability to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God who became incarnate in human flesh on that Christmas day 2,023 years ago and suffered a literal excruciating death to absolve my soul of the guilt of the divine crime of grand theft apple my great great grandparents to the 250^th degree committed approximately 6,000 years (give or take a few eons) ago as equally insane. Meanwhile both of us can at least pat ourselves on the back for being on the winning side of Paschal’s wager[iii] while known atheist Bill Maher laughs at us for believing in some weird spaghetti monster in the sky as opposed to just accepting the reality of the pusillanimous egotistical, narcissistic, self-serving souls of the 7 billion people we share this planet with. Never mind how an increasing number of those 7 billion souls are becoming majorly depressed because life sucks when you look around at reality of a world run by 7 billion pusillanimous, egotistical, narcissistic, self-serving souls and nothing greater.

But here’s something both atheist and theists believe, sometimes it’s good to take a moment out of life to appreciate everything you do have and count your blessings. There is plenty of scientific evidence for better mental health when one begins to cultivate a sense of gratitude to the greater universe[iv]. I remember watching Oprah Winfrey, a powerful media mogul and the original influencer, talking about how she, as a billionaire, kept a journal reminding herself of everything that was good in life. [v] Now she emphasizes you do not have to be a billionaire like her to be grateful. She remembers the days when she was unknown and poor and grateful when she had $2 in her pocket. The idea is instead of comparing and longing for what you don’t have, you take the time to appreciate what you do have. She recommends writing 5 things down because sometimes seeing those things on paper reminds you of how good you have it.

In fact, when you look at the 1^st Thanksgiving the pilgrims were grateful for essentially surviving a disaster. Half of the pilgrims that arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were dead by the time of that 1^st Thanksgiving in 1621. If it weren’t for chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe all of the pilgrims may have been dead. It was sheer luck Tishquantum[vi] aka Squanto knew English well enough to keep the lines of communication open and to show pilgrims how to farm the land with native crops like pumpkin and corn. Furthermore, while there were several Thanksgiving proclamations in both the colonies and the fledgling United States including a National Day of Thanksgiving [vii] declared by George Washington, it was Abraham Lincoln that thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a permanent national holiday in the midst of the Civil War that was tearing this country apart [viii] even though Sarah Josephina Hale[ix] hoped Thanksgiving the day to bring others together. When Franklin Roosevelt tried to move the Thanksgiving holiday from the last Thursday to the 4^th or even 3^rd Thursday to get more people more time to buy those Black Friday holiday bargains in the middle of the Great Depression the country revolted and Congress had to permanently declare the 4^th Thursday of November as Thanksgiving [x] Back then Americans believed whole heartedly in those Norman Rockwell four freedom posters including the famous one with grandma and grandpa sharing a ginormous turkey around the family table and knowing they were more important than what Macy’s had on sale the day after. [xi] During World War II it was declared that all active-duty personnel had to have hot turkey for that day and some soldiers risked their lives to get those on the front lines their Thanksgiving feast even if all they were thankful for was to be alive at that moment and couldn’t give a crap about hot turkey with cranberry sauce.[xii] Thanksgiving is the most important day of the year because other than the 4^th of July it is the day when all Americans celebrate something each and every one of us should be grateful for, the fact we still are living in the best country on this planet. Is America perfect? No. But at least we have the freedom to debate and even ridicule our political leaders when they are pardoning a turkey without fear of backlash (Just ask anyone in China who wants to draw Winne the Pooh)[xiii]. Even if a person is starving the day before or will be the day after Thanksgiving there is a concerted effort everywhere to make sure almost everyone can enjoy that hot feast with massive turkey and food bank giveaways.

And every American should be free to enjoy it without having to scarf down the turkey so they can get to their crappy retail job to deal with the Black Friday maniacs who value bargain values over human values and be grateful to be surrounded by those whom they love and who love them. In fact, Walgreens, a place where one could get last minute Christmas gifts on Christmas day just announced most stores will be closed on Thanksgiving[xiv] . Furthermore Target, a retailer that a decade ago bean to open its doors at 5 pm on Thanksgiving day to get those Black Friday shoppers a reason to rush out shortly after they’ve scarfed down their pumpkin pies decided it’s best for all employees to spend time with their loved ones on Thanksgiving instead of fighting the mob trying to get that Ulta-High Definition 96 inch television for a mere $299. [xv] Heck retailer REI takes things one step further by not only giving their employees Thanksgiving off but also Black Friday as well[xvi] So maybe there is hope this is a trend that will continue throughout the country.