My Lump of Coal

Well it has begun.   The yearly "Merry Christmas" debate.   Like most things these days that are based on utter stupidity and ignorance, this subject just makes my blood boil.   It's the arrogant, self righteous attitude of Christians that they alone own the holiday season.   According to educationalworld.com these are the events and celebrations that occur in the month of December:

 ·  Ramadan (Muslim)

·  Eid al-Fitr (Muslim)

·  Saint Nicholas Day (Christian)

·  Eid'ul-Adha (Muslim)

·  Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican)

·  St. Lucia Day (Swedish)

·  Hanukkah (Jewish)

·  Christmas Day (Christian)

·  Three Kings Day/Epiphany (Christian)

·  Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish)

·  Kwanzaa (African American)

·  Omisoka (Japanese)

·  Yule (Pagan)

·  Saturnalia (Pagan)

This proves, in my opinion that Merry Christmas is NOT the be all and end all of season greetings.  Furthermore I have NEVER heard of anyone being told they cannot use Merry Christmas if they so choose.   We live in a multicultural society. Christianity is not the only religion in our country.  Say whatever suits your needs.  But also understand the need for an all encompassing greeting that INCLUDES everyone.  Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, Peace On Earth might be a great one for these trying times.

People shout "To hell with being Politically Correct I am going to say Merry Christmas and you can just deal with it."   How wonderfully loving of you.   It's not about being politically correct!  It's about being inclusive.  It's about respecting the differences each of us has.   The word Politically Correct implies that not using a certain term would result in offense to someone.  Where is the offense in any of this?  What if someone said Merry Christmas you said Happy Hannukah back.  Would the world end?

Someone even said to me today  "..it's an AMERICAN tradition by our founding members..".  Seriously??  Where does this person think our founding members come from???   If we really want to honour our American tradition (and by American I mean all North Americans) we should be celebrating Winter Solstice and not Christmas at all.  In fact, the Indian blood coursing through my own veins abhors the thought of anything Christian while the European blood loves the lights and the music.

This whole debate just annoys the hell out of me because it goes against the meaning of the whole season.  Peace on earth and love for your fellow human beings.   Why such vitriol and hostility about a statement?

Businesses and government institutions should be required to honour all of their retail demographic and their taxpayers by using all inclusive...not politically correct....phrases to celebrate the diversity of  Candians.

My Unitarian beliefs encourage me to respect the inherent worth and dignity of all people.  And I try to do that. We honour all of the religions in our church.  So if someone comes up to me and says Merry Christmas, I don't feel offended because I don't celebrate Christmas.  They aren't wishing me ill.  It's a positive greeting, for a season of fellowship and love, no matter what you call it.