News and thoughts on thanksgiving
posted on 27 Nov 2005 under category News
As some of you may have already seen from Aerik’s announcements, Crimson Frost is finally coming out. It turns out it will be on UHR, and will include the originally-planned four-song EP, plus some new music, and some bonus stuff. It’ll be a nice black-and-white deal on black CDRs. Projected release is on Black Xmas - December 13. Stay tuned.
Next - Thanksgiving. So far it’s been a fine Thanksgiving weekend, with plenty of food and camaraderie all around. I’ve been tossing around the question, though, of what I’m giving thanks FOR. Despite it not seeming to me to really have taken on too many religious overtones as far as the practice goes, the basic idea as many seem to frame it is that you are giving thanks to deities for what they have given you. Which I find not only will-crushing, but ultimately self-denying. Say a farmer goes to a new land, works his ass off clearing the field, plowing it, sowing it, watering it, getting the earth to give him its fruits, and then harvesting it. Then he gets down on his knees and thanks GOD for letting it all happen? Dumbass - what about all the work YOU did to make it happen?
Needless to say, I find that sort of attitude less than contemptible. Are you a man or a dog?
Still, somehow, the idea of being ‘ungrateful’, in general and with no qualifiers, seems to grate against me. So, I’ve thought about it, and the way I figure it is this - you give thanks for what you are given. Those who give you things are PEOPLE - people you know, or people you don’t - from the mother, wife, or son who gives love to the friend who gives comfort and support and kick-ass xmas gifts to the total stranger who helps you change a flat - what you should be thankful for is PEOPLE who spend their hard-earned resources and effort and irreplaceable time to do something nice for you.
So, to all the people I know, and those nameless strangers who have happened to help me, I give thanks to you for all you have given me. And I urge the rest of you to do the same - don’t waste gratitude on a figment of the imagination - give it to those PEOPLE who you can lay hands on and say “he/she helped me with ____.”
(I’ll have to dig through Aerik’s blog to see if the facts match my memories, but I remember him messaging me on AIM one day around here and saying “let’s just release Crimson Frost ourselves - add an intro and outro and fucking burn it”. After the jerking around from EE and SJP, and coming down from the high of the Death Beast release, it seemed like a good move.)