(Just a little something to think about)
Every year, millions of families across the country come together and meet on the last Thursday of November for no apparent reason, stuff themselves with 8400 calories of food in one day, then go back to work a couple days later. Some people do get two or three days off, sometimes a week, in the name of this occasion, but other than that, no one really seems to know exactly why this phenomenon occurs.

"Now wait just a damn minute," you say. "We celebrate Thanksgiving so that we can give thanks for everything we have, not just because we get some time off." Of course that's what you say. After all, that's why the Pilgrims and the Indians came together for the first Thanksgiving in the first place, right? But do you really give thanks? Do you really recognize what you have to be thankful for, and appreciate everything for more than just what it's worth? Now ask yourself honestly or the guilt won't kick in: Did you really celebrate Thanksgiving this year?

This isn't directed at you, the reader, but to the American nation as a whole, and its tendency to forget what's really important, even when there's so much to be thankful for. The typical American family seems to have evolved a notch up the idiot scale in terms of human values and morals. Being ungrateful just happens to top the list around this time of year. Nowadays, American children are being raised to only recognize the material part of life. They recognize Christmas for the presents instead of the giving. They recognize birthdays for the gifts instead of the birthday. Hell, they even honestly want the cereal for the goddamn toy. That's messed up.

Being raised in such a fashion, they will never be able to realize the value of the nonmaterial things in life, nor recognize such values that they already have. Instead of a "Thanks Mom and Dad, merry Christmas," from their children, parents will receive something more along the lines of "What the hell, Mom and Dad. I wanted a PS3 for Christmas, not a goddamn sweater." Nobody likes getting those weird-looking sweaters for Christmas. Nobody. But there is no reason that people have to not appreciate the thought that their loved ones put into getting a gift for someone, whether it's satisfactory or isn't.

I know, I know. There are people out there that are actually thankful for what they have. There are even some who are honestly grateful each and every day for the life that they have; how fortunate they are that they aren't completely miserable in a hole somewhere. I know that they're out there somewhere, and I applaud them for their moral strength and appreciation.

But as for the boy or girl who complains about what he gets for Christmas, there isn't anything kind I can offer to him/her. I can only hope that they'll encounter someone or experience something somehow so that they're able to truly appreciate everything they should and don't.

Learn more about this author, Brian Jow.
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