I was having a very open and frank conversation with my lady the other day about the perceived 'War on Christmas.' I figured everyone thought much like I did, that it was a construct of the media in order to rile people up.
I was wrong.
My lady, who I consider to be a moderate conservative, was on-board with the apparent assault on Christ and definitely showed some emotion behind it. Her argument was that if children wanted to pray in school, have a nativity or tell everyone they met 'Merry Christmas' that was okay. She bristled at the fact that 'Happy Holidays' was the greeting forced down the throats of all of us and was concerned that Christ was being erased from the season.
I couldn't agree and disagree more.
The reality is that we are a little too politically correct. We should be able to wear our beliefs on our sleeves, wish 'Merry Christmas' to passerby's and keep the true meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth for us Christians, on the forefront of a holiday gone commercial. We should also be courteous and honored when someone wishes us a Happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or just plain old Happy Holidays.
The fact that none of us are expected to display an ounce of faith-based holiday cheer is what bothers me. Somewhere in this madness the politically correct or polite or whatever thing to do was be completely vanilla. Apparently in order to respect everyone, we are asked to disrespect ourselves and check our faith at the door. Why can't we display our faith and respect others that do the same, not viewing it as an affront, but as an example of what makes this season and this country great?
But I'm still angry!
This 'War on Christmas,' generated by politicians and media, somehow made rational people believe that they were no longer allowed to even mention the phrase 'Merry Christmas.' Somewhere along the thinking process that public institutions and commerce should be respectful of everyone's beliefs and stay out of the religious sphere, we were led to believe that 'Happy Holidays' was the only greeting left for us to use.
The reality is, no matter what the Supreme Court tells us, organizations and government buildings are not people. They are for people, all people. It's in that framework that we have to understand that overly favoring one perspective of the season isn't the appropriate way to include all people. Stores and town squares should be respectful of all it's patrons and their beliefs.
So just to set the record straight, as a representative for a major company I wish you a very Happy Holidays, but as an individual, may Christ be with you and Merry Christmas.
