Thanksgiving

　　　－　From a Reader　－

Hello, Eiji !

My school work and job have kept me very
busy since summer.
With the winter holidays approaching I know
that it will only get busier from now on!
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I will be
spending it with my parents.
My mother's cooking is wonderful
so I look forward to it.

Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States
where one is supposed to spend time with their
family and close friends and reflect on what they
are grateful for and to give thanks to the people
in one's life who help them out in both small and
big ways.
Thinking on a deeper level, Thanksgiving is about
how people can't always survive on their own and
how we need other people to help us out in times
of need, such as the Native Americans did for the
English European Puritain colonialists who came to
conquor their lands by sharing their food with the
starving white strangers.

I believe that US citizens should also use
Thanksgiving day as a time of reflection,
contemplating upon how
when people work together in peaceful ways and help
one another out in their times of need, not only does
it allow both groups to survive but it promotes peace
and friendship between the groups and allows them
to accomplish things that neither group alone could.
The last lesson it should teach is that friendships and
partnerships between groups should be maintained
and honored so that the genocidal tragedies
perpetrated upon the Native Americans by the white
European colonists (who had so generously received
the Native American's help earlier) never happens
again.

I understand that I am over-simplifying the history
and politics of the matter but it does not change my
feelings as stated above.
What do you think? Are there any similar holidays in
Japan to our Thanksgiving?
I do know that you have Children's Day celebrating
children and an Elder's Day to celebrate and honor
one's ancestors.