I’ve taken to asking for donations to charity, I much prefer it.

I think Thanksgiving started out with good intentions. George Washington was one of the first to try to set aside a day thanks. Abraham Lincoln's proclamation made it official in the middle of the Civil War. FDR tweaked it, again during a major war.
Growing up on the 50"s and 60"s it was over these celebrations including family reunion picnics that I listened to the adults and got quite an education even before my formal education.
At some point capitalist got even more greedy and Thanksgiving is something I don't recognize.
I have had a great life. No tragedies just the normal life events of birth, death, divorce, and other minor ups and downs. I understand many have not been as fortunate.
I have many things to be thankful for. Not to a god , but family and friends who helped guide me into adulthood and the life I enjoyed. I tried to pay it back.
I am alone today, but I am not sad. I still like these holidays.

LOL, he sounds like me, or I him . . .Wrote this years ago now

Thankless Takingday

I must confess I have had issues with this holiday since childhood. Thanksgiving, a national day of thanks. Its mere existence shows how unthankful most Americans are, that a national day of thanks is needed to remind us to be thankful. It is an indictment of America.
Thanksgiving is based upon the historical remembrance of the Native Americans saving the Pilgrims from starvation. Only to be declared non-human by those very immigrants. Immigrants who would use the Christian doctrine of discovery to lay a false claim that all the world belonged to them, because they represented Jesus, and all non-believers had no rights. Upon this Christian doctrine the entire American continent was conquered by Christians, Genocide was committed upon natives and whatever culture and language was left was systematically demolished, leaving little behind but blood and broken families.

It is strongly implied that we owe thanks to God, but leaves that question of God hanging. Which God, your concept or mine, or the guy down the street? It also ignores the fact that if we are grateful to a God that allowed us all we have, it also means he disallowed children to have enough food to eat, to starve as we feast. Not exactly the portrait of a loving God.

Thanksgiving is also interpreted as a day to have a general "Attitude of gratitude" for whatever you have, no God needed, just for us each to be grateful for what we have. A fine attitude indeed and one I personally cultivate, however once a year is no enough for such an attitude, it needs to be daily for it to have a positive impact on your life. In this fashion the holiday fails again becoming a caricature of an actual attitude of gratitude, mere lip service to the idea.

If all these concerns were not enough in the 1970’s the holiday was EXPANDED, followed instantly by “Black Friday”, or as I call it, “The festival of Greed”. Nowadays people rush from their dinners to go shopping at midnight, some stores even staying open on Thanksgiving itself for “Early Bird sales” combining the “Festival of Greed” with a Day of thanks; a “Thankless Takingday”, often noticed for the amount of violence and trampling’s which occur as shoppers violate each other to secure favored items. I have never gone shopping on this day, and I avoid even going out on it. I have desire to see my fellow humans demean themselves over a new TV, and less to see them hurt others to save a few bucks.
This all shows how America now values goods over people, not very thankful at all.

Is there ANY point left to these days other than Greed and Consumerism?

D.N.B.

Well said George.
We don't celebrate "Thanksgiving" here fortunately but the madness of "black Friday" is catching on fast.
There is some unconscious humour attached though. An American friend put a photo on facebook showing her husband and sons making meatballs for thanksgiving dinner and I thought it was turkey everyone ate or are the meatballs just an aside ?
One of her facebook friends commented " why are the boys balls smaller than Anthony's (their father)"
made my day
I referred her to a natural history documentary following a troop of chimpanzees where the testicles of the dominant male were much larger than the other males. Hope that cleared it up for her.

Good point,.I care more for the homeless-than extravagance
at this time of year.
Thank you.

Hey, does that mean there WILL be extra Trash Collections operating so we can discard the unwanted Faithfools.....LOL.

Hope you have a great holiday as well and everyone here. I know some don't view Thanksgiving in a positive light and I completely understand and respect that viewpoint too.