Happy Thanksgiving!

AbbysMom

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Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans. Hope you all have a special day.
 

trillcat

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This day is sad to me.
What are we being thankful for?
Yay, the native people helped the intruders, gleee.
They were then destroyed outright. gone, cultures destroyed. Genocide.
I hate this day.
 

ldg

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Originally Posted by Trillcat

This day is sad to me.
What are we being thankful for?
Yay, the native people helped the intruders, gleee.
They were then destroyed outright. gone, cultures destroyed. Genocide.
I hate this day.
For many years I refused to celebrate thanksgiving, though being out of the country for a number of them made that easy. When I came back to the country, I used to get together with friends and we'd celebrate "Anti Thanksgiving," and we'd talk about the horrors that were committed against the native people, and we'd go around the table sharing all the things for which we were NOT thankful.
My family sort of got my point, but felt I was missing the point that it was more about family, and being thankful for what we have, and having each other.

Now Gary and I take the time to remember the tragedy, the genocide, the horror and the injustice, and to pay our respects to those who sacrificed, unwillingly, their lives for a new nation. We do not celebrate the "native people helping the intruders," we celebrate giving, sharing, the "bounty of the harvest," and we take the time to take note of the many things that in this life, here, today, for which we have to be thankful.

Perhaps reconsider "hating the day," and instead hating what happened. Perhaps hold disdain for the way many schools teach children about what happened this day and why we celebrate, without putting it into the larger context of the "takeover" of the Americas. Perhaps consider finding a way to make your hate be productive, helping to "transform" the day into a day of remembrance, and do not celebrate the genocide, but celebrate the many things for which you can and should be thankful.
 

ut0pia

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Laurie said it beautifully... as always.


For me, thanksgiving has never been about the history associated with it, but rather about getting together with family, taking the time to socialize, eat and enjoy the time off from work...

So, that said,

Happy thanksgiving everyone, I hope you enjoy it!
 

trillcat

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Your words are beautiful Laurie, but it does not change my mind to the day. I really do hate it.
I remember family, and am thankful for all they have given to me, just not on this day.
I cannot get past the horrors we did to the native people here, and If I ever do, then I will celebrate the day with you all, till then, I remain a big grump.
Set in my ways, I will not honor this holiday, though I do like me some pumpkin pie.
 
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