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Then, I discovered Angelina Jolie hates Thanksgiving
and wants no part in rewriting history like so many other Americans.
A friend of hers says, “To celebrate what the white settlers did to the native Indians, the domination of one culture over another, just isn’t her style.
She definitely doesn’t want to teach her multi-cultural family how to celebrate a story of murder.”
According to some sources, Angelina Jolie is so disgusted by "Thanksgiving", she takes her kids out of the country so they are not around the madness that is embodied in the holiday.
And sadly, the records prove her right about the genocide of those Indians by the pilgrims AFTER Thanksgiving: the first true Black Friday.
Does Angelina Jolie have a point, or has she completely missed the point of having a holiday just to remind ourselves to be grateful for the blessings in our lives? What do you think?
For me, Thanksgiving is a more healing holiday than what Christmas has degenerated into today:
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is all about counting our blessings and sharing a meal with loved ones. It is not about presents and shopping and commercialism.
(That's for the day AFTER Thanksgiving!)
In our plugged in, high-tech world, Thanksgiving is a time when we can focus on the truly important things in life:
spending time with those we love and taking stock of all we have to be grateful for.
It is a time to embrace traditions, both old and new, and to celebrate our families, both the ones we are born into and the ones we choose.
Many families choose to use Thanksgiving as a time to bless others who are less fortunate, by sharing their own bounty.
While living our busy day-to-day lives and dealing with the problems that are too common in our society, a poor economy, unemployment, or health issues, it's easy forget about the good things in our lives:
our families, our friends, our pets and our homes.
There are precious few days in a year when we can simply spend time with those we love.
Thanksgiving offers the perfect moment to pause and reflect on all that's happened through the spring and summer and to enjoy the warmth of those who will see us through the coming year.
For what are you thankful?
I think it sounds like a beautiful holiday. I wish we had it here! Angelina Jolie is an attention-seeker ;-) hehe. Hope you have a great holiday, Roland!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to hate on Angelina for making the choice to shun Thanksgiving. I can appreciate and understand what Angelina is saying, (my family is part Cherokee) but she shouldn't hate on us for celebrating it either!!
ReplyDeleteI think each family should feel free to choose to celebrate the holidays in our own way. I know people who don't celebrate Halloween, because of what they think it represents. But my kids just want to go out dressed up and get some candy. They don't understand anything more than that.
As far as Thanksgiving, we focus on all that we are thankful for. We come together with our family and friends and celebrate with a meal. That's all. We don't even try to get caught up with what the old meanings might represent.
Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, in whatever way you choose to celebrate it Roland.
Jessica:
ReplyDeleteYes, we all need a time to pause to reflect on what we have left not what might have been taken from us in the past years! May the rest of this year treats you well.
JayBird:
My mother was half-Lakota, and she taught me that the White Man was no one's friend -- not even his own. She said it was in the nature of all two-leggeds to destroy themselves -- so take what was good from the White culture and leave the bad.
I will celebrate Thanksgiving by working to allow my co-workers to spend time with the family I no longer have.
Your way of celebrating Thanksgiving is the best way I believe: to bask in the love of family and friends, using the day to heal and reflect.
I think most kids think of Halloween as do yours. Oops! I have to race to work!!
Thanks for visiting and staying to chat like you did. It is appreciated! Roland
Hi Roland .. that's great that you're using your time to free others to spend time with their family ...
ReplyDeleteThe idea of celebrating with a family meal and just that quiet reflection on life ... however I'm sure there are definitely some who will always help out - and you're one of those ..
Blessings and have a peaceful day .. Hilary
I agree that the holiday began for the wrong reasons. But all holidays began for reasons we may not like. Christmas, Halloween, Easter, they all began as pagan holidays that many may be shocked at to know their true nature and why our current holidays mirror them. I couldn't agree with you more, it's about the current spirit of the holiday, taking something positive from it, and celebrating it for the right reasons. Happy Thanksgiving my friend!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Angelina Jolie, I think she likes attention, too, something she missed growing up.
ReplyDeleteShe has leading-man syndrome. Liz Taylor had it too.
Thanksgiving to me is about counting the good things I have. Enjoy your Thanksgiving moment, Roland, even if you have to work.
That said, I was always suspicious of the happy pictures showing the natives and the pilgrims as neighbors. I researched a lot of the Southwest Indian history in college for a commissioned painting, and I'm still appalled at what I learned about relations between the colonials and the natives.
I do not begrudge Angelina her stance on the holiday. She views it through eyes pained by the historical atrocities associated with the holiday's origins and thus chooses not to celebrate. I appreciate that she doesn't go from house to house trying to tell others they are horrible mongrels for celebrating it and takes her children elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the historical inaccuracies associated with Columbus Day and how, with more truth coming forth, more and more people have changed their view of that day. They still have the day off from work if it's a holiday off, but not exactly seeing people running about thrilled about the true way things went down in 1492.
Thanksgiving is but one day set aside by the nation to celebrate great things to be thankful form but I've grown to embrace a daily thankful spirit so that I take less and less for granted. Yeah, I enjoy my turkey and dressing and other carb-heavy foods, but I don't do so in celebration of the atrocity, but rather, thankfulness for time with friends and loved ones.
I think she's missed the true spirit of the holiday. We should give thanks every day, but a special day to do just that is very needed for some people.
ReplyDeleteHilary:
ReplyDeleteI've also been put on first call tonight so I just have time to say may your week and weekend be happy/
Heather:
Like you, I feel it is how we celebrate holidays in the present that matters most.
D.G.:
I find it interesting that after a scandalous headline about her, Angelina will head off on a humanitarian trip. May your Thanksgiving have been all you wished.
Being part Lakota, I know the sad history of the American government and the Native Americans.
The happy Pilgrim/Indian pictures were usually for children's bloodless textbooks.
Angela:
You are right: we get to choose the attitude in which we celebrate holidays and each day. Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.
Alex:
Celebrities live in such a rarified environment, I guess it is easy to miss the point on common things. Sigh.
Thanksgiving has always been about sharing the harvest with friends and family and being thankful for what we have. The whole aspect about pilgrims and indians is something I learned about in school as a child and I have completely forgotten about it. I guess we choose to reember what we want, too bad Angela J, chooses to focus on the bad and not the good. BTW, your video clip is from a good movie and I love that scene :) Awww, wouldn't you love to dance like that?
ReplyDeleteSiv:
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. Thanksgiving is sharing your blessings. Sadly, Angelina J. is more about making waves than making sense sometimes.
That clip was my gift to myself. In a time that seems another life, my fiancée, Kathryn, and I had fun in tango competitions. We danced for the joy of it. She now dances in that land that knows no shadow.
May today bring smiles somehow to your home. :-)
I love history and think it's important that we don't dismiss it even when it's unpleasant. I don't think there's anything wrong with being mindful of where our traditions come from. That being said, it doesn't mean, however, that we can't transform our holidays into something more meaningful like what we've done with Thanksgiving--being thankful, sharing time with loved ones, and giving back to the community. I think it's better to transform our traditions (if they have a difficult past)then to completely ignore/reject them like Angelina has chosen to do.
ReplyDelete