It’s that time of the year again. The leaves shed their green jackets and take on a yellow coat, turn brown, and die. The winds call all their cousins and blow, causing noses to become red and ears pink with cold. Outfits such as T-shirts and flip flops become replaced with jackets and boots. Students begin stressing over finals, parents over family trips, and the halls at school are replaced with a sort of crazed anticipation for the holiday break.

Through all the pandemonium, November calmly creeps up, makes its appearance, and escapes seemingly without a notice. It’s relative, Thanksgiving, follows along and does the same … causing a brief festive mood for five days and then vanishing from people’s conscience until next year.

Why does Thanksgiving not have a significant meaning to most people other than being able to sleep in or stuff themselves for a week?

It seems that as time progresses, original meanings of holidays become muffled further and deeper in history. Nowadays the talk around Thanksgiving is all about NFL football and getting the best early-bird deals around Black Friday.Every year, the original event of the Pilgrims and the Puritans in Plymouth Rock having their feast of thanks in 1621 is hidden behind 21st-Century events. Clothes can be modernized, music can be recreated, and style changes frequently, but it looks like holidays are not an exception to societal influences either.

This Thanksgiving, I encourage you to draw from the history of the people of the past who colonized America and reflect on the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Sure, sports are fun to watch and food is always a major aspect, but emphasize the key part of the holiday: giving thanks for what you have.

All in all, if it is so simple to alter holidays, the mutability of history would be next in line. This Thanksgiving, let us all be grateful that society does not teach us that 2+2=5. Thank you for creating awareness of that fact, George Orwell.