Because it's Thanks Giving.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

First things first. I am starting a new initiative. I believe that we as gainfully employed, tax-paying landowners, should take one full week off of work for every major holiday.
Thanksgiving? Week off.
Christmas? Week off.
New Years? Week off.
St. Patty's Day? If you are Irish, Week off.
Independence Day? Week off.

Now, before you get all angry and sue me over the glaring omissions of the big players like Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day and Earth Day, let me address a couple of smaller, less known holidays. They are called Hanukkah and Ramadan. (I am speaking slowly so that you can get all of what is being said. Small sentences. Although, I suppose I am not really "speaking" slowly per-se, and I am certainly not typing slowly... Hmmm. I have presented myself a conundrum. I will be pondering this while I write the rest of this article. I digress.)

As a favor for those of you who voted for Obama, I will give you a bit of background:
Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights. It is an eight-day Jewish holiday. A lot of folks think of it as "Jewish Christmas". There is nothing even remotely resembling truth in that statement. For the historical revisionists amongst us, let me give you a small bit of unshakable, unchanging truth. Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem. It is a VERY Israeli holiday, a celebration of military strength and resistance.
Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance (Muslims are not big on "holidays") that marks the month that the Qur'an was born. And by born I mean revealed to Muhammad. And by revealed I mean... well, let's not go there. Anyway, this month-long observance involves fasting. This fasting isn't as holy or special as it sounds, the participating Muslim simply does not eat or drink anything from dawn until sunset. Heck, dependant on my work schedule, I fast quite often. I eat breakfast before the sun is up, and I don't get another meal until the sun is down. The Muslim culture believes this act teaches patience, humility and sacrifice. (I just re-read that sentence. Isn't that a great set of traits for a person who will blow themselves up to kill others? Patience, humility and sacrifice? Weird)

"Okay, Mr. Fray", you are saying, "we know what they are. Move it along."

I won't address the glaring issues, the "pachyderm in the domicile" if you will. Oh, what's that? You don't know of the said mastodon? Well, sure you do, you just don't know that you know what you know. (read it slowly, and again, it will make sense) We (and by we I mean anyone who is a Christian) are being pressured to accept Hanukkah and Ramadan as holidays to celebrate right alongside Christmas. We are supposed to say "Happy Holidays" to friends and neighbors instead of the dreaded and fear-inducing "Merry Christmas". We are supposed to be self-censoring and tolerant of everyone, otherwise our enlightened friends and other strangers will not accept us for our beliefs, they will instead see us as ignorant, silly, and hopelessly caught in the intolerant past. Forget that neither Hanukkah or Ramadan is a shared holiday. Forget that there is no American cultural observance of those days. Forget that Christmas is the only one not celebrated as a strictly Christian holiday. Forget that Christmas is celebrated by a VAST amount of non-Christians as a secular cultural festival worldwide.

No, I don't want to dwell on the fact that Christmas is already an inclusive holiday, that it already implies peace and good-will toward all men. I won't even mention briefly that Christmas excels in those areas, where Hanukkah and Ramadan, well... don't. I don't think I have to point out that Christmas already IS what our stupid and lost postmodern minds WANT it to be.

No, what I want to focus on is my initiative to bring a full week off for every major holiday. We start learning it as children in school. Christmas/Winter/Holiday/Ramadan/Hanukkah/Yule/Cold Weather/Winter Solstice break lasts two weeks, and spans two major cultural holidays. (Christmas and the Gregorian New Year, for those of you in Dallas not paying attention) We get one week off for Thanksgiving. Which, by the way, is a Christian and cultural holiday, much like Christmas. My prediction is that once Christmas has been destroyed, Thanksgiving is next. Heck, you will already hear it referred to as "Turkey Day" more often than not, and John Madden and his mutant bird have done more damage to my young psyche than all the violent video games in the world combined. I really used to worry about that six-legged turkey.

Back to my initiative. I believe we should all take one full week off for these holidays to learn about the history of them. To understand the true historical relevance of Thanksgiving. Now, I know that if you had a week off for Thanksgiving, you wouldn't take the time to learn about it. I mean, most of America cannot take the time about their own culture as modern Americans, why bother learning about anything as old as Thanksgiving? That in mind, here is a VERY brief primer of the origins of the Holiday.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated as a Mass by Spanish settlers in 1565. In 1619, 38 English settlers arrived it Berkley Hundred. Their charter required that the day of arrival be observed as a "day of thanksgiving" to God. Follow that up with the 1621 thanksgiving of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, celebrating the goodness of God and you start to get a feel for what the spirit of Thanksgiving is actually all about. By the way, don't be sucked into the historical revisionism of no turkey at the "First Thanksgiving". The folks who wander around with silly factoids like that cannot ever back them up, nor have they studied history. (although I know for a fact that one such person does teach history. Scary) William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, wrote of Thanksgiving in 1621 (the traditional "First Thanksgiving"). He mentions the waterfowl, the wild turkey and the venison. Again, for those of you in Los Angeles, that is duck, turkey and deer. One final note. The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777. This set the Thursday tradition, though originally it was in December. The purpose? Not to kick off the good sales in the stores. No, this is a bit of what they said (emphasis mine):

That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE...

I am certain that in our day, in our education system, you have no idea what Thanksgiving was intended for. I can say with conviction that most of you reading have never read that before. If you would like to know more, check out the Wikipedia article here about the National Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Now, I think we need a week off for every major holiday so that each person, in each family, can do just a small amount of thinking for themselves. Just a bit of historical research that deviates from the normal revisionist crap you get today. What? You don't think Historical Revisionism is a problem today?

For your consideration:

The Mayflower Compact opening statement as you learned it in school:

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

And now, the Mayflower Compact as it was written. To make it easier on you, I have put in bold the parts that are different:

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

So, join me, brothers and sisters, as we walk out of work today, NOW, to celebrate a week of Thanksgiving. Let us take time each day this week to really, seriously, give thanks for what we have and do not have. In all things give thanks. Pray to Almighty God, just as the founders of Florida, New Mexico, Idaho, Alaska, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wyoming did. Thank Him for your blessings. Go ahead. I don't care if you believe in the God of the Bible or not, if you worship Him or not, if you are a Jew, a Muslim, an atheist. Just take a moment to give thanks to the God that lead to the establishment of this country, it's Constitution, and the states of the Union. You don't have to believe what I believe, but I do ask that you understand, tolerate if you will, the truth that this nation and it's states were founded by people who were grateful to Almighty God. People who were so grateful to Almighty God that they included that very phrase in the preambles of their state constitutions. "grateful to Almighty God."

Please people, I tolerate you, your beliefs, your gods. Why can you not do the same for me? I take the time to learn about your positions, your viewpoints, your outlooks. Why can you not do the same for me? I discuss differences calmly with you, you attack me and those I support. Where is the tolerance due me? Or am I excluded because I believe in a God you have rejected? Please, someone, answer this question for me? If I am to tolerate you and your beliefs, why do you not tolerate me and mine? As the lone person at a recent dinner party standing against Obamania I can say with certainty that this is a strange world we live in. Three people attacking one. I being the one. Oddly enough, I didn't say anything more than "I don't think Obama is qualified" and "I am a Capitalist, this won't break me." The responses? "Forget about job titles, is Obama as qualified as Bush?" (forget about job titles? Please. That's like someone applying for a job, and under qualifications saying "I really think I can do this. I can't prove it by experience, but gosh darn, I am ready.) and "Oh, no, we can break you!" Wow. After that it devolved to two fairly tipsy women yelling at me, concurrently, about how dumb George Bush is (I didn't know he ran against Obama) and how dumb I am for supporting the war, being a capitalist, and not wanting my taxes increased.

Once again, I digress.


Go to work, come home, eat your turkey, watch your football. But I am going to take the week off. I am going to do it to hide from the scorn and ridicule I suffer because of my faith and my beliefs. I am going to stay in my home, on my land, and I am going to pray to Almighty God, I am going to thank Him for my blessings, the things I have and the things I don't. And you will just have to tolerate it. You have no choice this time.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Above the Effing Fray