The values of turkey

Think back to a day years ago, when leaves were not a chore but a playground and when the day before Thanksgiving was filled with cupcakes and gum drop turkeys instead of last minute tests before the holiday. Now try to remember your teacher, amidst the cookie sharing, standing up in front of the room and talking about the origins of Thanksgiving. It was initially a celebration between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims from the Mayflower who were celebrating and giving thanks to the kindness and generosity of the Native Americans for helping them through their first harsh winter.

Today, Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of thanks in honor of the original feast. A day to give thanks to your family and friends. A day to celebrate life and the harvest.

But thanks to the annual steady pounding of commercialism Thanksgiving has turned into a national holiday where students and numerous employees rejoice in getting the day off. A day where a significant amount of the population spends the day with their faces glued to the TV watching the latest football hot shot try and score the winning touchdown. A day where everyone forgets their meager diet plans and puts on their loose pants for an afternoon of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.

An overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving but not nearly as many celebrate it for its original intended purpose. In an informal poll of 100 Blair students, 58% said that they do not say what they are thankful for on Thanksgiving.

Junior Marian Kahn thinks that the purpose of Thanksgiving has strayed from its original purpose because "people just don't know what it is" anymore. Many people don't even know any of the basic history of Thanksgiving beyond the basic facts from our elementary school days. The day does not celebrate thanks anymore, and is, as Junior Tamea Stoveer put it, "an eating fest now."

Sophomore Emma Hutchinson agrees. "I think that now it's all about the parade and the food and all the superficial things that it wasn't supposed to be about." Commercials advertising Thanskgving sales, turkeys and other Thanksgiving products pop up even before the Halloween decorations are down.

Mass media is the source of Thanksgivings changing values. As Sophomore Sally Lanar puts it, Thanksgiving isn't the same because its been hyped up by the media" and "its just about frying turkey now."

Despite the changing values of Thanksgiving, the national holiday does have its plusses. Families still get together around the table together and many people bring out the spirit of giving and sharing participating in charities.