The Black side of Thanksgiving · 6:15am Nov 28th, 2015
This whole week, or supposedly this whole week people all accros the US have been thinking about, and gearing towards Thanksgiving day. The day we are supposedly thankful for what we have, then the very next day, we show what we truely have been planing for, and rush out like mad men to buy whatever it is we want, or need.
I was just a bit ago talking to a friend and he asked, "So, What are you thankful for." Now despite me being thanful for a lot of things, my life, my family, my friends, a home, cloths, bushes and trees to shade our house, dogs to warn us of danger, exc. Today had been such a rough day, being between family events, I really was more in the mood to rant, than to list something I was truely thankful for.
I wonder how many people don't even take as much time as I do. Don't take even a moment out of their insane scedules, or fictional worlds to pause and really mean what they say they are thankful for.
My first ever song title was "Ordinary Mirricals" And while I still can sing it on command parts of it stick with me more than others.
The rain falls down from up above,
It's another ordinary mirical,
The Rainbow soft like a dove,
It's another ordinary mirical,
If we are not thankful for these little things,
Why do we expect God to give us more?
He promiced every need would be met.
So why do we worry, and why do we fret?
Mind you, I wrote this song at 12. Probably the darkest year of my life. I wrote it sitting under an old oak in my back yard. As I gazed up into the sky at the rumbling storm clouds on my way back up from the barn. My baby sister was just out of the hospital after a week in the ICU after a car accident.
It amazes me how much I've wavered from that faith in the past six years. Heartache, and pleasures both causing me to doubt, to fear, and to forget.
That was just a side note, back to the mane topic, Black friday.
I know people in retale. Many, many people. I actually worked at Miky D's during the month of November, Began Sptember 26th, and quit December 12th. That Thanksgiving after working six hours handing HUGE orders out the window at grumbling people put me in a mood that- You wouldn't beieve.
Are we truely thankful?
The fact that stores even have buisness on Thanksgiving says something about our culture. Something that is disturbing to say the least. The attitudes of the people who are shopping have an eaven greater mark on the mindselt of the culture today.
Do we really mean it when we say 'I'm thankful for *blank*' Or are we just following a costom, a traditon. Are we just saying something because it's what you are supposed to do. Do we ever mean it from the heart. I want to ask, when was the last time you ever said you were thankful for something, just to turn around the next hour, day, two days... and grumble about it.
The items I listed in that poem/song were as follows,
Birds "A Birdy sings up in a tree"
New life of animals, "A Chick Struggles and bursts free"
rain, "The Rain falls down from up above"
rainbows, Peace, and promices. "The Rainbow soft like a dove"
home, "I have a place and a little seat"
Food "We have food for us to eat."
Stars, "The stars twinkle up in the sky"
Astro science "The Comet quick to rush by."
babies, "Babie's lungs fill for it's first cry"
and their families. "Loving looks in parent's eyes"
Little things, things that at 12 I had more appreciation for than I do now. Has the world changed? Yes, but when was the last time you really meditated on those 'little things' What do you consider your, ordinary miricals? I doubt your list would be the same as mine. I actually wrote it down the following year at 13. But with the exception of adding a few lines, nothing has changed.
It's just words for thought,
Cowgirl out.
The best ordinary miracles in my opinion, are those boring days where you do nothing. Nothing goes wrong, and it's nice and peaceful. But at the same time, I want more out of life, so I like to try to take those risks and step out of my comfort zone a little bit.
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. And it's always good to see people being thankful for what they've got
A lot of people have it worse off.
Nice! I really like that! Thanks for the reminder of what's truly important and valuable in our lives. I'm not one of the mindless madding crowd that races out on black friday, baseball bat in one hand, credit card in the other, intent on wading into a swarming sea of equally mad, armed competitors who are willing to kill each other simply for the sake of obtaining an X-Box (whatever number it is this year) or the latest Galaxy G4 Tablet with 10" screen. Nope! I'd rather spend that all too valuable time happily and peacefully enjoying my family in the quiet, serene surroundings of our lovely home.
Thanksgiving, yes, that's certainly a time to feel and express gratitude but I, for one, do not reserve such feelings and expressions for but one day of the year. No, not at all. Being aware that I am truly blessed with a wonderful wife and daughter and great good friends there isn't a day goes by where I don't stop and at least think of the people who bless and enrich my life and make it truly worth living. No, for me gratitude isn't a holiday, it's an every day event and that, alone, is something I'm also grateful for.
3573295 I've had it worse off than I do now.
I can't say my thanksgiving day was the best... one bad apple issues. But it was better than past years. I only had to growl once.
But tomorrow I am really looking forward to. I have a tradition of sitting outside on a bridge every year. It is just so peaceful.
3573299
Black Friday is just insanity.
As should be everyone's mindset. Thanksgiving should be just an extension on our gratitude. Not the entirety of it.
3573316
Exactly! Unfortunately, and as I have seen far too many times, the mindsets of far too many are distant from such a tranquil, reassuring place.
Depending on someone's age, they will have a certain reverence for the world around them and the things they care about. As we get older, we have more and more to be thankful for, generally speaking; a toddler doesn't grasp as much of the world's meaning as a teen, thus they aren't "truly" thankful because they're ungrateful about the toys and food and affection they're given.
I have one thing that I'm thankful for, and it is the only thing that I have ever truly been thankful for: I am thankful to be alive, and to experience all of the things that come with it. That is all.
To quote my favorite movie...
3573727 Very true. Thanks for pointing that out Scoot.
3573706 It's hard to make a living in this day an age. With everything so instant, it's hard to just sit back and wait. Be calm.
3576026
How very true. Hence, the overwhelming need for good time management. Still, I'm glad I'm at an age where I don't have to concern myself with such things, anymore.
3576532 As a Senior in High School... I'm just reaching it. Insanity isn't the word I'd use to describe my life.
3576669
As bad as high school was when I was young I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like, now. After all, we didn't have pads, iphones, texting, sexting, political correctness, weird SJWs, or all the other stuff that you have to deal with, today, although we did have to deal with Hippies, drugs, counter-culture, Viet Nam war, civil rights, and all that now ancient stuff so, now, come to think of it, as crazy as being in high school these days must be, I realize that, perhaps, it wasn't any less crazy or insane for me than it is for you, just different.
3576849 I'm homeschooled... But it doesn't mean it's much easier to get through school. Then have to worry about what in the world am I going to do when I get out, keep up with what I do here, get an art buisness going... Then also tutor, with my mom, four kids. My two younger siblings and two cousins. And sometimes four other kids as well. But that's only a couple subjects.