The Best and Worst Days
2014-11-26 - by
Thanksgiving is the best. Black Friday is the worst.
Thanksgiving is the best of all holidays. It’s family, food and football. It requires no angst and anxiety about giving and getting presents. It does require a lot of cooking, so a big thank-you to all who are spending today in the kitchen. Those of us who help so little will demonstrate our gratitude tomorrow. We can at least clean up the dishes.
Thanksgiving brings out the best in Americans, a genuine thankfulness for having the good fortune to live in a country where we can eat to our heart’s content, complain about the government and not worry about famine, disease or a midnight knock on the door from the thought police.
Black Friday, not so much. If you’ve ever had anyone close to you go to work at 3:30 a.m. Friday to be ready when the hordes of deal-hunters invade – or even worse, go in at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day – you’ll never get over resenting the consumerist frenzy involved.
Thankfulness is the noblest of human emotions. Greed – and the hunger to get something you don’t yet have – is the lowest. There’s a reason the Buddhists call that “dukkha,” meaning suffering, anxiety, stress and unsatisfactoriness.
For myself, I thank all of you who read this blog, and especially those who tell Carter and me that you read it.
For one day, let’s forget our political divisions and just be thankful we live in this country.
Posted in General
The Best and Worst Days
2014-11-26/
Thanksgiving is the best. Black Friday is the worst.
Thanksgiving is the best of all holidays. It’s family, food and football. It requires no angst and anxiety about giving and getting presents. It does require a lot of cooking, so a big thank-you to all who are spending today in the kitchen. Those of us who help so little will demonstrate our gratitude tomorrow. We can at least clean up the dishes.
Thanksgiving brings out the best in Americans, a genuine thankfulness for having the good fortune to live in a country where we can eat to our heart’s content, complain about the government and not worry about famine, disease or a midnight knock on the door from the thought police.
Black Friday, not so much. If you’ve ever had anyone close to you go to work at 3:30 a.m. Friday to be ready when the hordes of deal-hunters invade – or even worse, go in at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day – you’ll never get over resenting the consumerist frenzy involved.
Thankfulness is the noblest of human emotions. Greed – and the hunger to get something you don’t yet have – is the lowest. There’s a reason the Buddhists call that “dukkha,” meaning suffering, anxiety, stress and unsatisfactoriness.
For myself, I thank all of you who read this blog, and especially those who tell Carter and me that you read it.
For one day, let’s forget our political divisions and just be thankful we live in this country.
Posted in General