You guys are going to think I’m obsessed with Charlie Brown, since my last holiday post was about It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Well last night my mom and I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and it got me thinking. Yeah I don’t know why I’m having so many philosophical thoughts about Charlie Brown.
A good portion of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is the whole gang talking about the first Thanksgiving. I started thinking about how when I was younger I was told the whole history of Thanksgiving every year – or so I thought. We were all told about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans and how they “helped” each other and then they had a big feast to give thanks to the good harvest they had that year. When I got to high school, they finally pulled the veil and told us the real history, about how many of the Native Americans were to die later from the Columbian Exchange, the Pilgrims stole their food, and made many of the Native Americans slaves.
Now Thanksgiving is a myth told again and again to children. They often have Thanksgiving pageants where the children tell the “story of Thanksgiving” in song and dance. There are decorations with happy Pilgrims and Native Americans, and of course happy looking Turkey often wearing Pilgrim hats.
The idea of Thanksgiving is a nice thought. It’s one of the most secular holidays, and it’s celebrated by all kinds of people in America. Maybe the idea of Thanksgiving could be rerouted to the celebration of friends and family and actually giving thanks to all the good in life, instead of the history of the first Thanksgiving.