On Thanksgiving Eve (?)

Reflection, introspection, contemplation, meditation. These are supposedly what tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, is all about.

So how did the day become synonymous with giant pop-culture balloons where companies blatantly market their brands? Not to mention shop-till-you-drop Black Fridays which have crept in upon Thursdays. The more commercial, the better, we seem to be saying. Why contemplate when you can commercialize? Why consider when you can consume? Why introspect when you can ingest?

On the Eve of Thanksgiving herds of people are shepherded along endlessly snaking barricades to reach the staging sites of the giant helium-filled balloons that have come to represent this supposedly thank-filled day. Spider-Man, Snoopy, SpongeBob, and friends. Ronald McDonald. Woodstock. Pikachu. Hello Kitty. Towering tall north and south of the Museum of Natural History. Waiting patiently to parade down Central Park West in front of more than 40 million TV viewers and some 3-4 million on-site spectators tomorrow morning.

A Thanksgiving tradition?

(A quintessentially American way of commemorating a quintessentially American holiday—for, buying and spending we lay waste our powers.)