Originally contrived as a way to celebrate the success of the Plymouth Plantation in the colonies by means of exploitation of the indigenous, Thanksgiving has since transformed into something much more ambiguous. Interpreted by some as the time of the year where thanks are given to something, I guess the world, the Universe, or to one's respective God for food, technology, their life, family, etc. As an atheist, a skeptic, and someone who doesn't care about holidays, I find myself slightly sickened by this holiday every year it comes around. Not to say that I don't find myself lucky in my current situation, living in a decent home in America, well fed, insured, having a good education and so on. But why should we give thanks? In a civilization that indirectly pushes down the unfortunate and allows for greater opportunity those who were born in such situations, I find the whole thing a bit selfish. It just seems a bit oxymoronic to me that those who lead fortunate lives to celebrate their luck/success/fortune in a traditionally gluttonous way. From this, I've concluded that I am not thankful for anything, aside from favors directly given to me by other people. And in fact giving thanks in the context of my beliefs would be nothing less than arrogance. I am not thankful for our medical technology, but rather the people who advanced it. It is a fact that the desire for humans to live longer, healthy lives and thanking the world or our species for bringing about our advancement is the same as thanking any other scientific fact. I wouldn't thank the "universe" for giving me gravity. I am not thankful for being alive. Out of all the possible outcomes of my mother and biological father of procreating, I just happened to be the product. Thousands of other people could have existed, it is nothing but chance. That would be like thanking the government for letting you winning the lottery. And so on... More onto the belief side of things, I think the whole concept of giving thanks to be a bit dumb. Why must we give thanks to non-living world or universe? Possibly the issue lies within the insecurities within the human psyche, thinking that if we give thanks, we feel a little less bad about letting half the world rot in their own poo (figuratively speaking), or in the case of the founders of this holiday, having a cleaner conscience about committing genocide against the Native American population. Anyways, I didn't make this thread solely so we can discuss my views on this holiday. What does Thanksgiving mean to you? I'm curious as to why people (specifically people who don't think they are talking to a deity who can hear them) feel the need to give thanks, and what this holiday means to you.