Thanks

Thanksgiving: no other nation on earth celebrates this uniquely American invention. This is not to say the rest of the world isn't grateful for stuff. They are. It's just that America has invented a holiday that is not based on any ancient holidays, that I know of.

Christmas has roots in the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, and the Norse traditions. Same with Easter. We have invented a holiday that has no quirky ceremonies other than "gathering together" and eating the American bird, the turkey. One Arab friend, after seeing the feast spread at my house, glanced at the turkey and said, "Alise, that is not a bird, that is a SHEEP."

It's a nice thought on the whole, a day dedicated to gratitude. But I don't like the holiday for the legend behind it. Let's look. A bunch of extremely rigid, religious fanatics who sailed to a new land and were so suspicious of the natives that they told them to 'get lost' when the natives visited offering gifts. Pretty stupid considering the nasty food the Puritans brought themselves. After a hard winter eating dogs and mice, and dying like flies, the Puritans were thinking the corn and fresh fish the natives were offering them were starting to look good. So they gave in and ate.

We are 'Thankful' that our ancestors lived to reduce the natives to poverty-ridden reservations. On which the rate of alcoholism is the highest on the planet. We are so grateful that we celebrate their wisdom and heritage as our own, and do nothing for the appalling 4th World conditions in which they live.

Indeed, today is a National Day of Mourning for the native populations in the U.S. And, being an "American" tradition, it is an extremely non-humorous, non-laughing occasion centered around food, a national day of eating too much; trying to avoid relatives we hate, and drinking beer and watching football.

It's not that I am ungrateful. I simply think it should be a day of fasting, with all the money and food spent on it destined for some tiny villages in the American Southwest...or your local tribe. Now that, Ladies and Gentlemen, would show what we are really grateful for; and it's not the growing tradition of obesity here.

But "Suck it up, Sensei" comes to mind and I am having my fill of coffee this morning and thinking of eating lightly this day.  And may all your Christmases be white.

P.S. I am boycotting Walmart, as I do everyday, on Black Friday, protesting their appalling labor practices.