by Emily Hartwell
Central Bucks East High School
Every year, the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday becomes more and more distorted. I have become more concerned with how to shove the last crescent roll down my esophagus than how the tradition came to be.
Through extensive contemplation, I realize the holiday we celebrate year after year since the colonial era is really nothing to celebrate at all.
We're celebrating the fact that we stole the land from a peaceful race, and exterminated their culture.
We've covered up the truth with endless Thanksgiving sales, frumpy turkey sweaters and pounds of unnecessary food that doesn't even exist any other time of the year. Hallmark may beg to differ, but Thanksgiving, much like Christmas and every other worn-out holiday, is more commerical-based and less value-based.
Is it really OK for us to dedicate a day to rejoicing in one of the darker moments of our past? Does a week off from school and two hours of non-stop eating really serve as an excuse for what we did? Can we overlook the obvious truth to indulge in a meaningless holiday?
Our history is a series of stealing, trampling and asserting our "natural right" to ownership and leadership. So maybe it is OK to celebrate the core values our nation was founded upon.
But this Thanksgiving, we shouldn't be thinking of what we're thankful for ------ let's be honest, that's just a way for the more successful person at the table to brag.
What we should do is think about and remember all the ways in which we've stepped on people throughout history to get what we have today. Only then can we truly be thankful for what we have.
I challenge you, through all the roast turkey and pumpkin pie, to listen closely.
You may be able to hear the lost Indian soul's war cry, but it's so faint, you'll probably just assume it's the goan of your chair giving way from underneath you.
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