A Jester in the King's Court

Capitalism is wonderful thing. It’s the thing that makes it so that children get to see “Back to School” sales in May, Halloween candy in July and it also allows me to wrap my assorted Labor Day meat’s in Santa Claus paper. And seriously….what would I do if I was not able to Christmas wrap my Labor Day meats?

Obviously this is driven primarily by a want for profit, though it has some philosophical underpinnings, i.e. modern man’s inability to be satisfied in the present and irrevocably desire the future. This trait of our society is why I start day dreaming about next semester’s classes ½ way through the current term, and why the contemplative life s one that no longer exists; however you can look like it does if you own a Snuggie…oh monkery!

Despite the fact that it isn’t profitable, Thanksgiving is falling out of the American mindset for other reasons as well. Sure the fact that only grocery stores make money off it has assisted to affirm the already dying holiday in its passing. Beyond that however, the concept it really has no place in postmodern America.

The name of the holiday is “Thanks giving” and when first instituted the concept was one of expressing thanks for the blessings we have been provided. Postmodern America has fundamental issues with the very concept of giving thanks for 2 reasons:

1) Postmodernism is a completely self-centered philosophy that teaches people that they are at the center of the universes. They define reality, meaning and truth. If a mindset is tainted with this philosophical stain, its easy to see how the idea of gratefulness seems to be lost. This isn’t to say that every postmodernist is this way, nor that every non-postmodernist isn’t. If you look at everything in the American culture you see a targeting of the ego. Self I what matter. The individual deserves everything the world has to offer. If everything that a person gets is not a blessing but a right, what is there left to express thanks for?

2) To give thanks implies an object of the action of “thanking.” I cannot “give thanks” without something or someone receiving the thanks. In an increasingly secular society that is pushing all references to God out of the public consciousness, there seems to be a more difficult time finding an entity to thank.

When the two points are added together, the increased difficulty in finding an entity to thank, and the given presumption that I deserve everything any ways, it leads to the death of a holiday that is focused on thanking God for His provision. I personally am nota huge Thanksgiving fan, mostly because I don’t love Thanksgiving food. In my world it would just be called “Stuffing and Pie Day”. However, I love what T-Day is about, and it’s a sadly telling thing that our present society cannot fit such a holiday into their worldview.