Christmas is nice an full of music and gifts and what not, but, really, take a look at what Christmas has become, a blindingly horrendous consumer driven cess pool of black fridays at wal-mart and fruitcakes. Its awful, you want to go to Target to get socks and a damn blender? Good luck, your forced to endure people looking to save 40 bucks on a freaking toaster oven. Its such a commercialized mess that you wonder if the actual point of the whole day has been lost. This is not new ground we are covering, but, sheesh, its more stressful to make sure you get gifts for your various cousins and co-workers that you just want it overwith so you can go back to hating your job or not paying child support. wait..what?? nevermind. moving on.
It feels that most of our federal holidays become talking points and fake-ish jingoism in lieu of actual sentiment. If that makes sense, i.e, fox news vs. msnbc type arguments instead of valid love given to the proper people.
Valentines day is an absolute joke.
Feel like we are missing a major holiday...new years??? thats fun. St. Patty's day? Amateur hour.
4th of July? Bad-Ass. Fireworks and BBQ. Thats it. It allows us to love our country, eat and drink, with no PC nonsense, but, does it measure up in all the areas that are necessary? Food, Naps, Football, Selfishness? Its like having a glass of Glenfiddich and an Irish Car Bomb. Sure, they are both tasty as hell and get you drunk, but, one of them you can savor for a longer period of time...and if you do it right, can look like a smug jack ass while doing so! Its a win win!!
Thanksgiving? Thats our glass of top notch whiskey. There are 3 football games, you eat some turkey, have a cocktail or two, fall asleep on the couch, meet up with high school friends at the bar...its basically like a cocktail party where you are comfortable, don't give a shit, and know that in a day you go back home with leftovers. For days on end!
You are not going to be able to eat all that food in one day, OH NO! You take it home, throw it in the fridge and have turkey sandwiches, turkey burritos, turkey soup, turkey casserole, turkey by itself. A midnight snack of turkey and stuffing and some green bean casserole? Get some son, thats the ticket. You know what? Screw it, microwave up that late night snack and when your done...go ahead and have a smoke out on the porch, you deserve it..you are the ruler of your domain, now flick the butt onto your neighbors lawn then tell Gregs wife that he was smoking last night. See what happens. Its fun for the whole family!!! Oh, he may be pissed for a little while, but, you know it was for a good cause.
Now, lets be honest with ourselves Thanksgiving allows you to be selfish. We are all selfish. Its easier to talk about ourselves, and thats not a douche type thing to say, we know ourselves better then we know other people. Its in our nature to go after stuff that makes us feel good.
Jobs, relationships, snacks, the new exaust you put on your truck, it makes us happy, it makes me happy, it makes you happy, it pisses of your neighbors! Greg sucks anyways!!!!
Thats why Thanksgiving makes sense. We give thanks to things that are important to us as individuals. We give thanks to our family, our relationships, our dog, our health, our fancy new car, our promotion, our well being, our kids, our sculpted abs...whatever. Its things that make us feel good and its a legit time to actually celebrate things that make US, yes you as a person, feel good.
You never hear someone apply for a job because it will make their neighbor happy, no, we go after jobs that will make us more money, give us more vacation time, has better looking secretaries, near the lake, isn't in Seattle...whatever.
You ever run into someone who makes big life decisions based on making someone else feel good vs. themselves, you are going to be talking to someone who is miserable after they realize that the person they tried to make feel good didn't give a damn in the first place.
Selfish is not an inherently self-centered ideal mind you. This isn't something with a lack of self-awarness, you aren't wearing affliction for goodness sakes, its more you are thankful for what makes you happy. Whatever that may be. Helping others make you happy? Sweet. Its more a mindset of being thankful for the ability to do the things that make you happy, whatever that may be.
This is why Thanksgiving rules. We celebrate stuff that makes us happy. What are you thankful for? Stuff that makes you happy. Does peace in the middle east make you happy? Good! Celebrate that! Getting the promotion at work make you happy?? GOOD! Celebrate the shit out of that! Here, an extra piece of turkey and some stuffing!!! EAT IT! Get seconds, thirds, put some in a tupperware thing and take it home! re-heat it! Add a sprinkle of weed! Its...well...thats not tasty. But, left over T-day food? Sweet jesus thats good eats.
Its all good! At our core, I think we are all gluttons, we are ravishingly hungry for something, food, work, athletics, acceptance, success etc...we get things that we really love and go after them with every ounce of our being, its what makes us successful at something. This success is not always quantifiable, you can be a success at being sober, you can be a success at paying your bills on time, keeping your house clean, not running out of gas, being rich, being loving, being supportive, being stunningly handsome...it doesn't have to be a easily identifiable/quantitative object...it can just be something in your life you are successful at.
And, at the core of all world-class athletes is some desire to succeed in that definable category, the will to succeed that others don't have.
The guys who jump over 200 feet, or slalom at something or another off, or wakeboard or trick ski or kneeboard or twitter or whatever have a selfish gene in them to do it better then the next guy, its the basis for competition and it seems sometimes in our world that its frowned upon to just fucking GET AFTER IT!!
We are supposed to look out for our neighbors and help people and make a better world, but, that gene that makes us want to stomp people out beat them is always there, it doesn't go away. It makes us want to get that next buoy, get that 5 extra feet...or you know?? Some of use get satisfaction teaching someone to get that next buoy, behind the scenes work, etc. The competition gene isn't simply your own success, but, then again...maybe it is.
Does that person you helped get that extra buoy say good things and then you get more love?
You know what??? It doesn't matter. Trying to figure out what it is that actually makes YOU feel good and what YOU give thanks for is silly. It can't be written down, it just is. We all love our families, we all love our success in life. We give thanks for all that we have and what it took to get us there and thanks to the people that helped along the way.
So, by extrapolation, Thanksgiving is a holiday that celebrates what makes you the real person who you are, not the person you think you should be, you are celebrating the person that you are and that person, the one in the mirror, the one that you know at your core, is the one to celebrate. Share that with the family, share it with your friends, but, for a day, share it with yourself as well. Its a day to give thanks for everything that is good in your life. Lord knows we have enough other days that bring us down, lets bring it all back up for at least one day and be selfish. Yeah, you damn right I am awesome and I will eat that turkey to prove it!
Enjoy!!
Happy Thanksgiving from the CRB.
I give thanks for crb long form. And hella turkey noms
ReplyDeleteI am thankful for the CRB, and ITS F'ING CONSISTENCY.
ReplyDelete