Thanksgiving?

As the weekend ends, lets reflect on the meaning of this passed holiday. Or at least the supposed meaning.

Thanksgiving. We all learned in grade school that it was a day to be together with family and friends, and to be give thanks for all of the graces in life. In high school it's a time when you can sit down together with all the relative you hate and reflect on all the little things that you never have time to consider. In college its a time to pig out and get sick over a game of football. When you're an adult, its a time to pig out, get sick, AND get drunk (key difference) over a game of football.

That being said, these are all good things, and Thanksgiving is something that we should cherish. It is an occasion that should be used effectively. And it should be used effectively by everyone.

The bit that becomes an issue is the everyone.

Before leaving for Thanksgiving I had a good conversation with a few working friends. During this conversation the topic of Black Friday Shopping came up. It was through this discourse that I discovered that very many of my friends would be working, not only on Black Friday, but also on the Thanksgiving holiday.

Of course I was a bit confused as to why they would want to work on Thanksgiving. I quickly became even more upset as I discovered that my classmates were, by and large, not working because they wanted to, but because they were required to.

This obviously isn't the first time that I've heard of people working on Thanksgiving. That being said, regardless of how many times I hear it, I am never any less angry.

I suppose that the bit about situations such as these that upsets me the most is the fact that as the years have passed, more and more employers have forced their employees to work on Thanksgiving in the name of profit. The cases that get me into a particularly hot steam are those in which mega-corporations, the likes of WalMart and BestBuy, who do not need the extra money that Thanksgiving sales provide, force their workers to turn in, even as those higher level managers who demanded their attendance go and enjoy the holiday.

I understand how the business oriented mind works. I understand why its methods make sense and how they come to their conclusions. Regardless, I still hate the less human portions of the business mind. I hate how people could think it completely fine to force their workers to come into work on a holiday when they themselves never would. I understand that a boss has certain privileges that cannot hold, but when the leaders of a company that is not in danger of meeting its bottom line decides that it is perfectly fine for his employees to be required to work on a day that is traditionally reserved for giving thanks with family and friends, those workers likely won't be feeling very thankful about being on a force extra shift to cater to people who have already (or will at least have a chance to) celebrate.

As we reflect on yet another Thanksgiving newscast showcasing the aftermath of yet another year of "Doorbuster Deals" (note: a term that clearly needs to be abandoned as it literally invokes images of shoppers breaking through department store doors and trampling on one another in a race to get to the last pair of Ipod headphones) lets all sit back, employees, employers, and random spectators like myself. Lets sit back and think, "What is the purpose of this holiday, and how should I use this purpose effectively?"

Do that, and I'm sure that our Thanksgiving newscasts would get quite a great deal less violent, and out Black Friday cashiers would a great deal more thankful. And hey, isn't that what the pilgrims and native would have wanted, all those years ago?

I'm sure its in there somewhere, around the time when the pilgrims opened up a Macy's and invited the Natives to shop. That is how this holiday started right?