What Became of Thanksgiving

If the Devil looked about and saw a nation setting aside an entire day in which family and friends gathered to celebrated love for one another, to feed the poor and to give thanks to God, what would he think?  I assume he would be filled with fury. He would probably call together his minions for counsel and develop a plan to destroy such a day.

Perhaps he would look into his arsenal and pull out his glittering weapon, greed, knowing that all men are susceptible to its poison and power. But the weapon must not appear sinister and evil.   It must be disguised as something that seemed good. Perhaps the weapon could be camouflaged within the traditions of Christmas shopping. 

 It would not be necessary to implement the plan in one fell swoop.  It could be introduced gradually, by degrees, until the odious day of giving thanks was erased from the calendar.

The commercial launch of shopping for Christmas could be moved ever closer to the day of giving thanks. Then, on the day after Thanksgiving, corporations could offer deeper discounts to lure the masses into their stores before sunrise. It would be a brilliant stroke of genius. The minds of the people would be lured away from giving thanks and enjoying fellowship to planning strategies for the big day of shopping! 

The Devil could sit back and let human nature take its course.  In time, the day after would not be enough, and the honored day would begin to yield.  Stores would open late on the day of giving thanks, and, once this was done the rest of the day would quickly fall.

After a few years the Evil One could look across the nation's landscape and gloat.  The day of giving thanks would have been obliterated by the commercial and corporate god of greed.  Families would no longer assemble happily around tables for a feast of giving thanks. The mothers whose hands once prepared Thanksgiving meals would be working at Walmart.  The fathers who once sat at the head of the table to lead in prayer would be on the job at Kroger. Teenagers and the marginally employed would be busy stocking the aisles at Kmart or checking out customers at the Gap. Others would wolf down a hurried meal and leave the dirty dishes behind so that they could elbow their way down department store aisles in search of the best buy.

When the weekend was over, the populace would no longer be refreshed by the peaceful gathering with loved ones, nor would they be renewed by the giving of thanks to God.  Instead they would stumble off to their jobs on Monday exhausted and weary. And, of course, even better yet, the thrill of shopping would be replaced with financial worries, bloated credit cards and family arguments over money.

It was a superb plan.  The Devil sat back and grinned.