“I celebrated Thanksgiving the 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
It’s a special day for America today as we celebrate all that we give thanks for. Some folks travel east to west, north to south to spend just one day with their loved ones. The Thanksgiving dinner table is always a microcosm of society. We have republicans, democrats, liberals, and neo-cons. We have boozers, teetotalers, know-it-alls and comedians. Johnny Carson said ” “Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.”
The last two years at our celebration has the conversation drifting to the economy. No one feels affluent anymore and everyone seems preoccupied, and to a degree worried. I just get that sense.
Things will get better, they always do, and this day serves as an $8 movie that we go to to escape from some off the challenges that we all face every day, even for a snippet of time. At the end of the day there is nothing better than family at this time. We laugh, we cry, we bond, as we are all in it together. No one had a house go up in value, some have been challenged by job losses, so there is a commonality and a thread and purpose, to reinvent, to rebound. Family is best for that, better than anti-depressants or advice from the best Park Ave psychologist. At the end of the day, family gets us through anything, even if it’s for five hours and another Lions loss. This is a day when we can’t put a price on the disfunctionality of our families. Embrace it and laugh at it. I do.
Be thankful, if you’re reading this, you are still on the right side of the grass, and that’s a good thing. I wish you all a happy and blessed day, full of laughs and peace.
Joe