Thanksgiving' to who

Ok on the eve of thanksgiving where Americans give thanks for the harvest how many will actually celebrate.

This month food stamps were cut for 47 million Americans and in the same month you give thanks for a bountiful harvest .


So will you sit down to a large turkey knowing that a lot of American children will be going to bed hungry.

Are you going to think of the people arrested for feeding the homeless because its illegal in some states to feed the homeless.

So as you carve your turkey do you really have a lot to celebrate.

If I was homeless in the USA and there is a bountiful harvest why should I care as it does not matter how good the harvest was, Im not getting any because its against the law for you to share it with me or would you expect me to give thanks also for me starving while you get stuck into a big Thanksgiving dinner.

Should people who have just had their food stamps cut also celebrate their kids going to bed hungry but yours full.

If I was American celebrating Thanksgiving would disgust me, if you attend any church service ask the preacher "why" he is celebrating bounty for some but not for others, are we not all gods children.

If you are giving god the credit for supplying your food
Then he has to take the blame for all the hungry Americans

You can't have one without the other.

So it only seems fair there should be two services in every church, one for the thanks giving service where the congregation can go home after and enjoy their turkey.

And a F U god service where the congregation can go home and put the hungry kids to bed and the homeless can go back to their cardboard box.

Be thankful for what you have.

reply to post by pavmas


Why do you think so many of us buy two baskets of food?

One for us and one for the local food pantry.

Then, we will thank God for what we have, including our family but above all the ability to still be able to give to others.

I will be thankful that this is not simply an either/or situation as you have portrayed it! I will sit down to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner after having spent several hours helping those who have less than I and after helping the food bank supply food to the needy.

My life is a AND life, not an either/or life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

reply to post by pavmas


People who have foodstamps still have foodstamps.

The problem is all the people who don't qualify for foodstamps because they didn't pop out 3-4 kids or those who made good choices in their lives.

My Thanksgiving is going to be a day of forgetfulness. My girlfriend makes a delicious turkey and fixings, and the day will be spent forgetting that life needs to involve more than just the basic pleasure of food and friends.

I will eat delicious turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, and drink half pickle juice and budweiser adult beverages.

The day will end with us all sitting around talking and probably watching Robot Chicken on Netflix.

If my girlfriend and I aren't the size of whales and still have the ability to stay awake, we might even do something else later on...to be quite honest though...I doubt it after eating her food.

That is Thanksgiving to me. To many Americans who still have family it is a time to watch football and stuff your faces and come back to a place that is more important than anything else. That place in the world where family and friends and food equalize all people and connect them to one another.

That's my two cents.

reply to post by pavmas

This month food stamps were cut for 47 million Americans and in the same month you give thanks for a bountiful harvest .

Thanksgiving is about being thankful for all of the good things in your life…not just food!

So will you sit down to a large turkey knowing that a lot of American children will be going to bed hungry.

YEP!

Are you going to think of the people arrested for feeding the homeless because its illegal in some states to feed the homeless.

Taking care of your fellow human being in need isn’t illegal.

So as you carve your turkey do you really have a lot to celebrate.

Absolutely…I’m thankful I’m alive….I have my health….I have a family….I have a job….I have a roof over my head….etc. Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for. Should I not celebrate my good fortune because someone else isn’t as fortunate? Is that how people should live? Should I be ashamed?

America is a "me, me, me" country. The majority of Americans will eat all day and watch football. The holiday has lost its meaning. My wife, two kids and I donate as much food as we can spare to a local homeless shelter. On thanksgiving we go the shelter and volunteer for 3-4 hrs. Its not much. I wish we could do more.

As for god? He ain't going to pay my electric bill. I take care of my family and my self. Prayer is for the turkeys.

reply to post by pavmas


Haven't you realized by now that if people are poor, it's their own damn fault. They are lazy drug fiends content to scam off of us hard working folk. Taxing us to pay for their drugs, booze, tea and skittles they seem so fond of.
Those so called "poor people" should be thankful we don't round them up and put them all to work in the fema camps. That would serve them right for stealing all my hard earned dollars.

Sarcasm off..........

I'll be down at the shelter with my GF helping those that can't help themselves. I'm thankful to be able to help with charitable contribution and effort.

"There but for the grace of GOD go I" My demons almost killed me and I am blessed by the help and advice I received to get out of addiction and poverty.

Affluence and sanity is more tenuous than most can even imagine.

reply to post by pavmas

I guess you never volunteered at Union Baptist Church in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving Day?
We Americans are the most giving civilazation in history and will continue to be #1 in the future.

catfishjoe
America is a "me, me, me" country. The majority of Americans will eat all day and watch football. The holiday has lost its meaning. My wife, two kids and I donate as much food as we can spare to a local homeless shelter. On thanksgiving we go the shelter and volunteer for 3-4 hrs. Its not much. I wish we could do more.

As for god? He ain't going to pay my electric bill. I take care of my family and my self. Prayer is for the turkeys.

This is the problem I always have with people like the OP who seem to imply that the only true Christians are the ones who would sacrifice absolutely everything in order to have nothing.

If we can't take care of ourselves, how are we supposed to be expected to ever help others? Someone has to produce the extra to give to the less fortunate, and if we are all the less fortunate because we have nothing, then no one will have anything left to give for any of us.

I am thankful that I don't have to go out on black Friday. I am thankful that someone else killed and cleaned the turkey. I am thankful that I get to have a big dinner get together with the people I care about and that we have the food to do this.

We have it a lot easier than those a hundred years ago had it, that is something to be thankful about. We can be thankful that we are not dodging bullets and bombs like some people are.

reply to post by catfishjoe

America is a "me, me, me" country. The majority of Americans will eat all day and watch football. The holiday has lost its meaning.

It seems lot of things have lost their meaning these days…that doesn’t mean those of us who don’t spend Thanksgiving helping others at a shelter are scum. One day is only a snap shot of a person’s good.

My wife, two kids and I donate as much food as we can spare to a local homeless shelter. On thanksgiving we go the shelter and volunteer for 3-4 hrs. Its not much. I wish we could do more.

That’s very admirable.

olaru12
reply to post by pavmas

 

Haven't you realized by now that if people are poor, it's their own damn fault. They are lazy drug fiends content to scam off of us hard working folk. Taxing us to pay for their drugs, booze, tea and skittles they seem so fond of.
Those so called "poor people" should be thankful we don't round them up and put them all to work in the fema camps. That would serve them right for stealing all my hard earned dollars.

Sarcasm off..........

Quit talking about politicians and Wall Street officials like that. Those poor guys think that there is never enough money in their accounts.

reply to post by seabag


You are so right and please forgive me. I hope I didn't come across as a butthead. I'm as selfish as any one. And I will get my gut full, drink 2 bottles of wine and fall asleep on the couch with my pants unbuttoned.

While I very much appreciate your sentiment and have empathy for those with less, my plan this thanksgiving is to sit with my family and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I have worked hard for the credits given to me and plan to give thanks that I am healthy and able to provide for my own.

As much as I feel badly, for the children of those with nothing, I am doing what is necessary to TAKE CARE OF MY OWN. If everybody had the same mentality there would be fewer people with nothing.

Sorry if that's blunt, but I'm not going to feel one bit guilty that I haven't called in sick to work or been late for 3 years, that I do what I'm told to get my credits to support my family in the economy that I don't do drugs or steal or commit crime. I'm going to GIVE THANKS that I have been given the opportunity to provide for my family and then enjoy myself.

There's nothing wrong with feeling bad for and helping those with less, but it should in no way diminish your sense of accomplishment for your own achievements. I'm going to enjoy my food and family and hopefully those who are struggling will find it within themselves and with some help to one day provide for themselves and the children they decided to bring into this world. Sorry if that offends anybody.

Thats the problem with naysayers, to make your point, you put blinkers on... the world isn't binary, black or white, on or off...there are many in betweens.

My family and I will celebrate Thanksgiving, football, lots of food, good company... why shouldn't we? We've made it through another year, all of us alive and and as healthy as we can be all things considered.

Throughout the year my wife and I give freely to charities, Red Cross (x2 this year), local animal shelter, local food pantry (10 turkeys this year).

I personally cannot fix the homeless, under-fed population, problem by myself...that would be like trying to adopt all the stray animals I find at the local animal shelter...I just cannot do all of that by myself, and it would make no sense to try...

Will I celebrate Thanksgiving this year while others go without, yes I will, it's an unfortunate circumstance...but not one I can fix by myself.

So don't be a naysayer, be thankful for what you have, say thank you to some higher power and count your blessings... you made it through another year.

reply to post by olaru12


From what I see there seems to be more poorer people than wealthy, perhaps as the grow more and more they might round you up.

And if you are looking for an example then look at the French.

If they come for you you could hit them over the head with your Turkey.

I donate once a month to our local needs center. Not once a year, once a month. Be it food, TP, Person hygiene items or just a package of diapers. It is all I can afford to do right now.

So, If I want to take one day a year, eat a big meal, and thank myself and my family, for all that WE harvested ourselves, and the fact that we are together, I'm not going to feel guilty about it. I've got plenty enough days in the year for that.

pavmas
So as you carve your turkey do you really have a lot to celebrate.

Yup..I really do...

I get what you are trying to accomplish but I am also thankful for every single thing I have in my life.

I am thankful for the professional success and financial stability/flexibility that comes along with it.
I am thankful for the family/friends I have that are still alive.
I am thankful that at the age of 40 I am doing pretty damn well.
I am thankful that my wife continues to donate her time to the local animal shelter. That she sat up with a dying kitten last night and made sure it was not alone when it left this world.
I am thankful for a lot of things and none of them are something to be ashamed of or to not celebrate.

If that is an example of me being "another selfish american" so be it. I laugh at things like this because everyone wants to think their country doesn't have problems.

reply to post by Nowyouseeme


Thanks for being so honest' I was sick of the replies saying I give this and that and buy 2 loads of goods one to give away etc.

I was beginning to get the idea that people on foodstamps would say stick your stamps, we have the same as everyone else and no one is hungry.

You stated that you take care of your own and wish things were different but they are not.

have a nice Thanks giving you deserve it.

But I still think this "Im alright Jack" attitude is a bad way to go for all of us and offers none of us security.