Hey Mom, what's for dinner?

As we approach the upcoming holiday, Thanksgiving, not all of us are looking forward to spending it peacefully. I mean, for me, nothing could be less peaceful than sitting down to dinner with my family. I mean for one, my Dad's a chef, but he's pretty old, so he tends to be overly critical of other people's food. If we go to a dive such as--oh, I don't know--Applebee's, they serve him a margarita in a beer mug, and he complains that he doesn't get a legitimate margarita glass. They serve him a Reuben, and he complains how sloppy it is and how it falls apart.

Unfortunately, most of what he says is actually founded in fact so we can't say he's wrong for saying it. And after all, Applebee's IS a hellhole. Another issue is the fact that me and my younger sister fundamentally disagree on nearly everything. She's an extreme--and I'm talking EXTREME--Conservative.

First of all, I'm a Centrist. And personally, I have nothing against Liberals or Conservatives, but when my sister becomes upset because I disagree with the ridiculous arguments she presents--many of which include circular logic and faulty arguments, she tends to break down the lines of communications. She will actually start hurling curses at me. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there thinking, "Is she really swearing at me for advocating stem-cell research...?" And she was in Student Government in High School.

In any case, back to Thanksgiving. I don't know how many families actually do this, but the idea of Thanksgiving was supposed to be a concept of being blessed and thankful for the things we have. But what exactly does that mean? Webster defines it as: "an expression of thanks, esp. to God."


Normally I don't do this, but let's all think objectively for a moment. When you're stuffing a leg into your mouth and ripping the flesh from the bone with your teeth, sticky fats dripping from your chin and onto your bib which reads "Make Giblets, Not War"--what ever the hell that means--are you really, honestly thinking about whatever divine province went into putting that bird onto your table? A lot more than divine province went into killing it, I'll tell you that.


The spirit of Thanksgiving is nearly gone, I think. Because when I sit down to dinner, I certainly don't pray. And if I did pray, I'm pretty sure I'd pray to someone like Howard Kauffman. Sure, apparently God made the turkey I'm eating, but it looks like some guy in Illinois probably killed it.


Has anyone reading this actually looked into the history of Thanksgiving? It's not about Turkey, and sure as hell isn't about football. It was about trade and harmony with the Tribes of the New World, known colloquially as North America.


When did we start to glorify these turkeys? What the hell does a turkey have to do with anything? Back in the 1600s, they ate corn and fish and other vegetables because there were no turkeys to eat. Why can't we just have a regular meal, like a human being? And exactly how does having a meal differ from what one normally does in the evening? Are we that pretentious?


The Church seems to think that it should be a religious holiday. But wouldn't that make it a "Pagan" holiday by definition, because it originally involved people who worshiped the Sun, the Moon, Earth, water, fire, and who regularly had human sacrifices?


Okay that was the Aztecs, who apparently weren't even involved. BUT STILL.


I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm trying to make you think. I don't care so much about the religion behind it, I'm just hungry at varying intervals in the day, and I don't think we should glorify the holiday like we do. So do what you want, pray to your heart's content, be thankful of what you have of course, but don't say "it's a sacred day!" 'cuz it's not!


It's a frickin' domesticated fowl. Eat it, suck on the marrow, and if you can afford it, get some corn on the cob and go to town.


Oh, and don't forget there are people who can't even afford food. I donated food to my local charity. What did you do?


OtakuPatriot out.


=OP