Any reason for a party is good enough.  I think most Americans look at
Thanksgiving as a time to give thanks for what they have.  At least that's
the way I look at it.  The 4th of July, when I celebrate independence, and
Thanksgiving, when I give thanks, are my two favorite holidays.  The rest I
can take or leave.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Dunlop [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 26, 1999 1:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OT: American Thanksgiving


If I ever need to be reminded that this list is so USA dominated, this
Thanksgiving holiday does it. Although I lived there for 8 years, I
never could quite grasp the concept of Thanksgiving and why Americans
make it such a big, important holiday especially so close to Christmas
when they do it all again. To my understanding, and I would be glad to
be corrected if my understanding is incomplete or wrong, the original
festivities were to celebrate how wonderful the local Indians were to
the original settlers who landed in America. They welcomed them with
open arms and provided food and shelter etc for them. This is all very
well, but then, in later times, the "white men" did their level best to
wipe out all the Indian inhabitants of America and didn't get far from
achieving this objective. Is this really something to carry on
celebrating? Surely it really represents something that should be
remembered as America's shame, not a celebration?

Just my $.02 and I am sure that this American-centric list will not find
my views popular but I just wanted to present an International viewpoint
to the Thanksgiving thread.

Cheers,

John Dunlop

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