Xanthia's MS Life

I've thought about this from so many angles and I just can't make sense of Thanksgiving. True I am a vegetarian and an activist for birds so one might call me a little biased however the massive slaughter of turkeys in the name of a holiday that bases itself in the idea of giving thanks seems thoughtless at best and violent at worst. "Hey, I'm so gosh dern thankful for all this crap I can buy at Wal-mart I think I'll kill a turkey and eat till I puke on the cat!" WTF???

If you had the proper attitude of thankfulness for all that you have been blessed with then wouldn't it lead you to the next logical step that you should think about those who aren't nearly as fortunate? For just one day in your selfish, precious, little lives would it hurt to go without, to not only do something for someone less fortunate like provide a meal but to actually not eat? Why is everyone stuffing their faces? What is the bloody point? And don't talk to me about tradition and family togetherness, why not call it what it is? Gluttonous Slaughterday. If you need a holiday to remind you to be thankful then your soul is in need of more than what this day has to offer.

What baffles me is how there can be so many married people in the world. Most people are ordinary. Most people lead ordinary lives, do nothing to make their world a better place, nothing remarkable and most people do not stand out physically either. Yet here they all are, married! How does it happen? I'm perplexed. How do they set themselves apart? How does it happen that someone looks at this common, complacent person and says to themselves "I cannot imagine life without this person. I want to spend the rest of my life with this person." These ordinary people, how do they earn undying love? Is it true that there is someone for everyone or is it closer to the truth, as I deeply suspect, that most people are afraid of being alone and willing to settle on something less real, less than pure honesty and devotion. I think a brave lust for life and love for another person are one and the same. If they can't feel that nameless love for life maybe they don't know what they're missing?

I had a lot of trick or treaters come to the house. They seemed so disingenuous this year, no enthusiasm. There was a distinct lack of glee. I was troubled when some forgot to even say trick or treat. Maybe with this brave new world of ours the old fashioned holidays are going the way of the horse and buggy. There doesn't seem to be any room left for an innocent love of make believe, gore and treats. How can a child get excited over treats when parents give their fat little children anything they want and allow them to trade in imagination for plastic Target costumes of fluffy cartoon characters? I believe I witnessed the genuine death of a holiday last night. Maybe two hundred years from now (if we haven't destroyed ourselves completely) there will be a renewed interest in "ancient" holiday traditions but alas as the world that I know changes so does my favorite holiday.