Endangered Holiday

   Thanksgiving is coming, isn't it? I checked the calendar. Thanksgiving is still listed as a holiday in the United States. There is a sign in the pharmacy that says that the pharmacy will be closed on Thursday.
  If it weren't for those things, I wouldn't know it was coming up. There is Christmas, excuse me holiday, music being advertised on cable TV and on the radio. I look in stores and I see Christmas trees and Christmas decorations. Stores are holding "Holiday Sales Events". Even the Internet is full of stories about "Black Friday."
  I think Thanksgiving needs to be put on an endangered list. It used to be that people looked forward to it and celebrated it. You remember, don't you? There was turkey, stuffing (or dressing) and potatoes of some sort. There's always one dish that no one likes, but is made anyway. There is always one dish that everyone likes and is gone before the meal is over. Families would gather and spend time together. It was fun. You could wish anyone and everyone a happy Thanksgiving and no one would consider that offensive.
  Over the past few years that has started to change. The articles about making cranberries and where to find help for roasting a turkey have been replaced by articles on where to find the best deal on a flat screen TV. Pictures of pilgrims in black hats have been replaced by glitzy trees and ornaments. I once worked someplace where they played Christmas music starting the day after Halloween!
  I heard something in the past few days that has finally been the last straw for me. Some retailers, in an effort to get more sales, will be open on Thanksgiving Day so that shoppers can start shopping.
  This is intolerable. It was bad enough that they had to open at midnight or three or four in the morning. Now they feel that they must open on THANKSGIVING DAY.
  Tell me, what kind of people are we becoming when it is more important to spend money than spend time with those you are about. Is Christmas so important that we need to sacrifice Thanksgiving to it? Is it such a bother to spend one day, one day out of 365 to celebrate things for which we are grateful? (and maybe share with those who don't have as much) Really?
  What about the retail employees? Don't they deserve to spend time with their families? Those stores that are opening later on Thanksgiving Day are requiring their employees to cut short their time with their families so that they can serve the masses of people anxious to get a jump on their holiday shopping lists.
   We need to take back Thanksgiving. We need to insist that it be given the dignity of the holiday that it is. We need to resist the temptation to give it a back seat to Christmas.
  We need to spend one day thinking about those things for which we are grateful. Contrary to popular belief we all have many reasons to be thankful. We live in a country where we can elect our leaders without violence or intimidation. We have opportunity. All children can go to school. When bad things happen we have the resources to rebuild. I'm sure you can think of something.
   I have read a history of Thanksgiving on Wikipedia. Although it has been celebrated at many times by many groups of people over the years, President Lincoln established it as a national holiday. He felt it was important to establish a day of thanks. That he did so during the Civil War should tell us something.
  Take back Thanksgiving. We need it.