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November 27, 2006
Tis the season
I am finally back from my Thanksgiving sojourn to Buffalo, where I ate some wings, chowed on some beef on weck, and made my merry with the ol' extended family. Of course, now that it's past Thanksgiving, we are in yet another holiday shopping season, and along with that comes to annual bitch-fest regarding the secularization of Christmas.
Yesterday my dad went off on some rant or another about the clerks at stores who are ordered to say "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas," though I didn't quite get his point. Today on my trip to the airport at 6 in the morning, I heard on the radio that somebody is selling magnetic car ribbons that say "I won't be offended if you wish me Merry Christmas."
Here's what I think: if either Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas offends you, don't go out. I can't know just by looking at you whether or not you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, something else or nothing at all. And if you don't like my message of good cheer, you're oversensitive.
Now this gets me to my main point: does it really matter? People are upset at what store clerks are saying, which means they are out shopping and spending lots of money on presents. I am not sure when the practice of giving gifts for Christmas came about, but I can sure bet that Christmas wasn't originally about giving each other presents. And I am also 100% sure that Jesus, that fine fellow, would rather Christians and non-Christians alike repeat a message of tolerance vis-a-vis holiday greetings instead of debate the semantics of happy holidays vs. merry Christmas. I'd like to see a store have all its clerks say Happy Hannukah, just to see what happens. Additionally, I wonder what Jesus would say about all this hot air being blown around by people whose main concern is getting a $19 DVD player at Wal-Mart?
Posted by oz115 at November 27, 2006 11:11 AM