Mad as He!!

Can I just rant for a few minutes? Would you indulge me for a bit? Good...

I heard on the news that the school district in Seattle is declaring the Thanksgiving holidays as a time of mourning. Yep, I am serious. I know public education is lacking in so many areas, but this is ridiculous as the administrators are seriously lacking in common sense.

Their logic is that we should mourn what we did to the Native Americans and not celebrate how we once dined with them and then turned on them so violently.

Let me say this; as a former history teacher and one who has taken graduate level history courses, I am not ignorant to the fact that we could've handled things a lot better years and years ago. Take a look at the text below...

Historical revisionism is the attempt to change commonly held ideas about the past. In its legitimate form (see historical revisionism) it is the reexamination of historical facts, with an eye towards updating historical narratives with newly discovered, more accurate, or less biased information, acknowledging that history of an event, as it has been traditionally told, may not be entirely accurate.

"Historical revisionism" (also but less often in English "negationism"

[1]), as used in this article, describes the process that attempts to rewrite history by minimizing, denying or simply ignoring essential facts. Perpetrators of such attempts to distort the historical record often use the term because it allows them to cloak their illegitimate activities with a phrase which has a legitimate meaning. Negationism relies on a number of techniques such as logical fallacies and appeal to fear.

Please just give me a break. When was the last time you sat at the table with your family and recreated the Pilgrims and Indians feasting together like on the Brady Bunch episode 30 years ago?

For me, Thanksgiving is a time to be with loved ones and enjoy their company. It is a time to relax and reflect on all of the blessings we have to be grateful for and then actually giving thanks for them. Truly, this is what Thanksgiving means to me. Well, that and eating too much and watching the Dallas Cowboys! (P.S. How 'bout them Cowboys?!?!?)

This year we are traveling to York, PA to be with John's aunt, uncle, dad and grandma. We will also visit the Gettysburg National Battlefield and the Amish Country. I love going to York because it is a happy and welcoming home in which we will stay. There will be lots of laughter, love, food, wine, and stories---perfect.

Don't look for us to be running around in the backyard chasing indians and stealing corn. And no, I am not making light of what happened to the Native Americans. I am just 'taking back' Thanksgiving.

No need to mourn this week-thank you very much!