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Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
People I know get irritated when I saw there is little to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Why is there a need to be superficial with people if things have been demonstrably bad for you? This year, I've lost half my income, have no health insurance, and the holidays are unpaid furloughs for me. I just don't get the need to save face when things have been going poorly all year. Do you feel less thankful when times are bad?
I am totally with you on this. Just because I'm living does not mean I'm satisfied with as it is. In your shoes, I'd avoid any family or anyone who may not understand what I am going through. I'm not mad at you for being p&#@$d at all.
I understand your frustration. It has been a beast of a year and I look forward to it ending. I gave thanks to God for what I have because it could have been worse. I woke up this morning. My apartment is warm and my belly is full. I have cable and the internet to entertain myself. I also have hope for a better future most of the time. I struggle with this a lot. I know it is a cliche but where there is life, there is hope.
My father hit a deer last week and the car was declared totaled. He only has about $4,000. An aunt, who has never hurt financially in her life, was telling us about new car offers from Honda. I didn't say anything, but I felt like saying, "he can't afford a new car!" She didn't mean anything by it, but simply has no concept of how it is to be tight.
It's been an awful year. I've gone from making $45k, having four weeks vacation, and health insurance, to having three jobs since the first of the year, each successive one paying less than the last. I have no health insurance and no time off. When I moved back to TN at the beginning of the year (my biggest personal blunder), I was making nearly as much as I was in IA. My pay has been cut by around a third since then to under $25k. For someone that has a four-year degree, seven IT certs, is very intelligent, and three years experience in this position, "answering the phone when it rings" in a customer service position is borderline torture. This is a job that I would have liked to had at 18 as a computer hobbyist, but as a 27 year old professional with four more of these same jobs under my belt, it's maddening. I'm on a road to nowhere, can't see a way off, and have no idea how I've seemingly come to the end of my life all before 30.
What irritates me about this message is that the OP is now supposed to feel happy because other people go through more hardship and pain than she does. I know in reality what I'm supposed to think is "people have it a lot worse than me, so I should be grateful," but I can't help but think of it that way as well.
It's really easy to look all throughout the world and see how much worse people have it than us, but that doesn't eliminate our own troubles. Sometimes, it amplifies the feeling.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes there isn't a reason to be thankful, and that's okay. I definitely feel less thankful when times are tough, but I suppose I make up for it when things are going well. And I understand the importance of being thankful all the time. It hit me other other day how short life is and how soon a day passes. But sometimes, it's okay to just think everything sucks, because sometimes it does and being blindly positive about the world around me isn't going to change anything.
My God! "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen"! Jeez Louise!
While it's OK to have a day feeling like the bold, but to hate Thanksgiving every year b/c you don't want to feel thankful for something is over the top.
I agree that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday in that its a day to spend with family and friends to have a meal together. There is always a reson when you look at the world and what some suffer with.
People I know get irritated when I saw there is little to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Why is there a need to be superficial with people if things have been demonstrably bad for you? This year, I've lost half my income, have no health insurance, and the holidays are unpaid furloughs for me. I just don't get the need to save face when things have been going poorly all year. Do you feel less thankful when times are bad?
Spend some time in a homeless shelter or travel to some exotic locations where a few live in palaces while many live on the streets or in mud huts. Saw some of that in my travels in north Africa. Or see a country that suffered under a brutal communist dictator. I saw kids live in sewers come out at night to sell their bodies for money to buy food, I saw a boy whose parents cut out his tongue to make him a better begged, and I saw a boy whose legs were deformed by the police who broke his legs in several places to prevent him from stealing food and running.
It's to give thanks for the things you do have. We take many things for granted. Shelter from the weather, roof that doesn't leak, ready access to clean safe water, food in the home, and health are some basics we take for granted. Central ac/heat, hot water for bathing, reliable electricity (compared to some countries), and many other things could go on the list. Take time to see what you have and be thankful, then strive to work to earn money to get the things you wish you had. I live in a 14'x48' two bedroom mobile home that was built in 1999. Roof doesn't leak, central air works, electric bill is low, appliances work (stove, refrigerator, water heater, clothes washer/dryer), and I'm thankful for those things. I've lived in places so horrible you could see the grass through the hole in the floor, plant roots were coming in through the ceiling from the grass and other stuff growing on the roof, and I had to check my bedding every night for lizards, roaches, and spiders (found them in bed crawling on me).
I'm not particularly fond of thanksgiving. This year my fiance and I are having my mother and her husband over, as well as our two best friends. My mom is always doped up on depression medicine (her doctor prescribes her 3 meds, which screw with her head bad), and she is a raging atheist... our best friends are devout christians. It's going to be interesting.
I have to know how that one went!!
OP- I've lost my business, dad had 3 strokes and is a nursing home, and i'm running out of money. There is always something to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my strength, wife, dog, health. And I know things will eventually get better. My wife always says, she admires how strong I am when most people crumble. Things will get better for you, every storm runs out of rain. Best of luck to you.
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as it is. In your shoes, I'd avoid any family or anyone who may not understand what I am going through. I'm not mad at you for being p&#@$d at all.
be happy
