Obligatory Thanksgiving Post III

Jeep ran a truly awesome advertisement in some of the magazines this year, and on TV. The slogan was, "The things we make, make us." You can see the ad here. Whatever job we have, it is our responsibility to produce whatever we can to make our lives better. In my case, it's bringing books to the attention of readers that may find a new author, a new love of reading. But there are others who actually create things with their hands, with iron, or wood, or a pen and paper, or even a computer. Like this blog, in a way. So, to quote Ayn Rand:

Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday. In spite of its religious form (giving thanks to God for a good harvest), its essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers’ holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production. Abundance is (or was and ought to be) America’s pride...

You see the idea I want to convey. I have to put in the religious meaning as well, for giving thanks to God is indiscernible from the feast of abundance. God blesses our country to be one of producers, of people that create and make, and we do so, in copious abundance, from which we enjoy the fruits of His love, and the fruits of our labor. So the large meals of extravagant food means to exalt His glory, as well as to exalt the human drive to push ever forward, to construct, to build upon the foundations that our ancestors gave us.

As far as being thankful... sometimes it's not reality that you can be thankful, but rather the places to escape when real life gets too hard. From the books I've read to the video games I've played. Immersing myself in Hyrule, for instance, or in Miyuki Miyabe's Brave Story, which I am reading now. Or watching the endless games of football on television, to see unbridled acts of athleticism. I'm also grateful for those people I work with who allow my mind to take a breather away from the thoughts of real life. I am thankful that I've seen the way a store should run, by someone who actively participates in the lives of his employees and encourages them to reach and surpass their goals. I've never enjoyed going to work as much as I have this past year (for most of it...)

I'm thankful for those people, for the blog onto which I write my thoughts, and the worlds I can explore whenever I'm asleep, or when I'm awake.