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Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for -- annually, not oftener -- if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments. –Mark Twain
"Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its history?" -Michael Dorris
I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land. –Jon Stewart
I’m trying to wrap my head around the concept of Thanksgiving.
This season it’s particularly difficult. My piece of writing last year shows that it’s not the first time I have been struggling with the American holiday of Thanksgiving. But, this year my personal hang-ups with the holiday have increased due to the increase in illusions among Americans.
Take this letter to the editor published in the USA Today on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 for example:
Election brings relief
Anne Brewer - Prairie Village, Kan.
Until Barack Obama was elected and I cried tears of relief, I did not realize the level of subliminal anxiety I had been enduring.
Would the Iraq war ever end? Would the environment be nurtured instead of destroyed for future generations? Would the embarrassment I felt as an American because of U.S. policies be replaced with pride?
Thankful is the best way to describe the emotion I felt when Obama was chosen as our 44th president.
It is trite to describe the lifted burden as a weight that was removed from my shoulders. But that is exactly how I felt.
Hope is a powerful emotion, and it was reinstilled in me with the election of Obama. I will give mighty thanks this Thanksgiving because my prayers have been answered.
USA Today asked readers to share their thoughts about Thanksgiving and this is what Ms. Brewer had to say. I do not think Ms. Brewer is the only American who wrote a letter like this for Thanksgiving. Many Americans are thinking like this but there are just a few problems.
Americans like Ms. Brewer actually think Barack Obama will end the Iraq War, start nurturing and stop destroying the environment, and make it possible for Americans to be prideful instead of embarrassed again.
The third item is possible. Obama seems intent on restoring our image and so America may indeed get a facelift---a Botox injection before his presidency is over. But, as for the wars and the environment, one must ask Americans like Ms. Brewer, what non-corporate military industrial complex non-neoconservative-versus-neoliberal world do you live in and would you mind helping Americans who do not live in this reality get to that reality so we can all live a better life?
