Thanksgiving: Anecdote &Analysis, and Wal-mart Stampede

Dylan LaPointe 12/2/2008
Thanksgiving: Anecdote & Analysis and Wal-mart Stampede

I ate Thanksgiving dinner with my friends family, and surprisingly enough (sarcasm) little thanks or conversation were exchanged. The second my friends dad, a husky white man with a bad smokers cough, finished saying grace, everyone started eating. Everywhere around me were traditional holiday dishes; various kinds of squash, brussel sprouts and onions sautéed in oil and garlic, mashed potatoes, and right smack in the middle of the table, a big fat and thanksgiving turkey. My friend later commented on the meal saying that all he saw was “ a lot of left overs.”
For the duration of the meal, there was little exchange of conversation, except for the occasional “foods great syd,” a comment that came from exclusively my parents and I. At one point however, my friend’s dad stopped the meal to show everybody a song dedicated to my friend… on his expensive sound system that, five minutes before, he had been blaring “Master and Commander” on. The moment was touching I admit. For a man who hasn’t, on any occasion, uttered one positive word to his son, it was a big step.
After everybody stuffed themselves with stuffing, my friends mom packed the remainder of the food into Tupperware, and desert cam out. My friend and I left the room, too full to eat anything. My friend decided to play grand theft Auto Vice City on his new laptop while I sat on the other side of the room strumming on his unused acoustic guitar… and once again, no talking occurred.
Thanksgiving is that one special time of year where you can sit around with your family and get fat off of large amounts of flavorless, genetically enhanced turkey. In fact it’s such a valuable holiday, so choc full of thanks that stores skipped it and went straight to the biggest consumer holiday of the year, SPOILYOURKIDSWITHTHINGSTHEYDON’TNEED Day… I mean Christmas. We have become such a consumer society that we practically skip holidays that don’t involve getting stuff. Stores actually skipped the Thanksgiving decorations and put up the Santa decorations, only further promoting obesity to children. (If Santa can weigh a half a ton and still give kids gifts around the world, I want to be obese too.) Thanksgivings purpose has depreciated, any reminiscence of thanks and giving has long since withered away with the turkeys flavor. In school people spoke of what they would pile on their plates, not who they were thankful for. My friend wanted nothing more than to just smoke pot with his friends.
As a child I recall hearing that thanksgiving was the day that the pilgrims sat down with the Indians and settled all differences. Even if the pilgrims sat down and ate with the natives, they ended up raping and pillaging them soon after. One of two questions should be asked: Why do we celebrate genocide in a country where people supposedly are more humane? And, Who is teaching our children this PG version? If the goal of this holiday is to give thanks for the ones one loves, then people should get their mind of their already bloated stomachs and give thanks.
In school I was questioned as to why holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas? Recently a man was killed in a greed stampede to get to the TV’s at Wal-mart. Even when the paramedics came to try and save the man, people kept on shoving past just trying to get to one of Wal-marts many sales. It is this sort of rampant consumerism that truly disgusts me. The Christmas season has been inextricably linked (thanks to the media) to shopping, spending, and buying. “Make sure you get your shopping done before it’s too late,” say the advertisements. Christmas shopping has been made into an obligation, something one “must” get done. People are bent on buying for others, not out of the kindness in their heart but because they need to, and because if they don’t get people stuff, others will be less inclined to give them stuff.
People also tend to do a lot of their Christmas shopping at places such as Wal-mart. They buy there simply because it is cheap. Never mind the commonly known and widely accredited fact that they exploit cheap foreign labor from China. People are willing to support others pain as long as it gives them five minutes of happiness because they got a videogame that they wanted. “Well at least they give us low prices so we can buy more stuff for less."