Thanksgiving is almost here. Thank goodness there is a holiday that lets us take a break from politics and economic worry and reminds us that there is still a lot for which we can be thankful. It’s just too bad that so many people don’t want us to be happy with what we have, and feed off our misery like blood-sucking insects.
Funny how Black Friday falls right after Thanksgiving. Some people will eat a nice dinner with their family, sigh how happy they are with what they have and then camp out in the freezing cold to buy as much stuff as possible just because it’s on sale. (I’m guilty. I still have an unopened memory card I bought two years ago just because it was $4).
Is it the fundamental nature of retailing to create “needs” that didn’t used to exist? I recently read an article about Best Buy’s difficulty in selling the new Blue Ray players and movies. Salespeople are scrambling to convince you that DVDs are old-school and anything less than high-def is for grandmas and blind people. Unfortunately for them, it seems most customers are quite happy with their DVD players. Darn savages.
The news media is another group that seems to feed off unhappiness. Is it because we are only interested in bad news? If I created a Good News Times, would people read it? (Headline: Good News! Ohio Still Has Running Water). Probably not. Maybe it is because we get so caught up in bettering our lives and achieving more goals that we forget why we’re working so hard in the first place.
But at least on this one day of Thanksgiving, we will have the opportunity to take a breather from buying new toys and give some thought to some of the things we take for granted. For example, Ohio’s week-long blackout made me realize how lucky we are to have electricity. Hearing about corporate layoffs makes me glad I have a job, even though I’m not getting rich at it. I’m even grateful for our government, short-sighted and inefficient as it might be. Doing a service project in Haiti last summer made me realize how corrupted governments can get.
Now that I realize I should stop complaining about things such as the difficulty of my classes and just be grateful that my professors aren’t actively trying to make me fail (I think), I’ll put together a nice Thanksgiving list of a few things for which I am grateful.
I’m Grateful For…
Living in a country where we can raise millions of turkeys to be eaten on one day.
My vegetarian relatives that leave more turkey for me.
No bone-heads getting seriously hurt jumping into Mirror Lake, which would force the college to clamp down on that crazy tradition and place a permanent curse on Ohio State football.
Not being a Michigan fan last Saturday.
Family, friends and all that good stuff.
Being alive in such amazing times.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hiromitsu Masuda is a senior in business and human resources. He can be reached at [email protected].
