ALT-1 Should Thanksgiving be a Holiday
Thanksgiving is a holiday and a philosophy of life. Thanksgiving is a concept that should blossom in the hearts of every person for whom there is something to be grateful. Simply waking up in the morning healthy, alert and ready to face another day may be more than enough reason to be grateful for many people. Happy, optimistic people tend to realize their good fortune and express their feelings of thanksgiving on a regular basis. Does that mean the idea of an officially labeled holiday such as Thanksgiving is unnecessary? Not at all.
Thanksgiving as a holiday is about more than simply being thankful for good fortune and good health, although that in itself is reason enough. Celebrating Thanksgiving gives a grateful person the opportunity to show appreciation and to share in the good fortune of life with friends and family. Segregating a day and setting it aside for the sole purpose of sharing and expressing gratitude gives people something special to anticipate and look forward to acknowledging. Knowing you have reason to give thanks and are able to celebrate that feeling is rewarding.
Thanksgiving, falling in the United States as it does on the fourth Thursday in November, is the perfect introductory event to the late fall and winter holiday season. Thanksgiving is the unofficial start of more than a month of merriment and festivities. It is the perfect opportunity for reflection on the past year of good fortune and a wonderful time to begin the anticipation for the future. It is also a time to take stock of everything you have going on in your life, evaluate the good versus the not so good aspects of your life and set a course for the future.
The original idea of Thanksgiving, as it comes down to us from the lore and legend of the Pilgrims, is a time for being grateful for the mere fact of survival in a world with many obstacles and hardships. If, in spite of the trials and tribulations of everyday life, you can still find it in your heart to be thankful, it only makes sense that you would be more than happy to take time out of your hectic life to enjoy the bounty of your existence and to share that with others.
Thanksgiving, as a holiday, gives us just such an opportunity. At its best, Thanksgiving is more than the highly commercialized holiday that modern society has tried to create. It is more than stuffed turkeys, inflatable Pilgrim balloons in the front yard and an overabundance of football on television. Thanksgiving is that one day each year when each and every one of us is given the opportunity to step back from the chaos of life and say to ourselves, "Yes, life is good, and I am grateful." It doesn't take a special day to make us feel this way, but it sure feels good to have the opportunity.
