Purportedly, Thanksgiving is a holiday that originated when a group of Pilgrims from Europe, and a group of Indians living in the New World, got together after the harvest and celebrated its bounty. Whether this story is true or not is irrelevant to this post.
Thanksgiving to me is a time for friends and family. A time to celebrate the bounty provided by adherence to free market principles. A time to recognize the advantages that living in the developed world brings, and being grateful for that reality. Thanksgiving is a celebration not of consumption, but of production, and the bounties that production allows for.
On this day of giving thanks, I would remind us all to think of the producers–whether that be the lowly stock boy at Walmart, or the CEO of the same organization–who dedicate their time and effort to providing us with goods and services that in previous epochs were either available only for the aristocracy, or not even imaginable, let alone available to the common man.
If you are a producer–and you probably are–don’t forget to thank yourself for your production, and celebrate the advantages of consumption that production allows for.
A happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Enjoy the family time, the gluttony, the football, and the after dinner slumbers.