Tuesday, December 17, 2013

I Say Tomato…



This week’s blog is way overdue because I got sidetracked. Three separate and unkind incidents wound up being related and I found myself in a state of pre-Christmas shock. Christmas is a season that fills me with joy. I love the decorations, the gift-giving, and most importantly for me, the true reason behind this most loving of celebrations. I was taught from a young age to put God first, honor my Mother and Father and treat others the way I want to be treated. This brings me to my current soap-box stand.

I was checking out in a large chain store and the cashier wished me “Happy Holidays.” The lady behind me snorted and said clearly so six people deep could hear her, “It’s not Happy Holidays, it’s Merry Christmas.” The cashier was a 20-something full-time student (hey, it’s a small town and we tend to know everyone) working her way through college and it broke my heart to see her face turn pink with embarrassment. I turned to her and said clearly so six people deep could hear me, “Thank you so much for wishing me happiness.”  The lady behind me was not amused, but given the situation, I treated her the way I hoped someone would treat me and smiled and wished her a Merry Christmas.

Later that same blooming evening, Facebook smacked me right in the kisser with one of those e-cards on my news feed. “I won’t wish you Happy Holidays, but I’ll Merry Christmas the crap out of you!” Really? Someone is so obsessed with something being only one way that they’ll put the word crap in the same sentence with Merry Christmas? Pardon me, but whoever thought of that needs an enema for the brain. Crude, I know, but again; really?

The next morning I turned on the radio in my car and found that someone had been messing with my dial. Talk radio was on at its most opinionated. Rush was hollering how the “Left” in our society was trying to rid the world of Merry Christmas. I happen to work at Social Services. I enjoy my job and I have a live and let live mentality. In the eyes of Mr. I-know-everything-and-you-don’t, that would put me so far to the left you couldn’t get directions. Funny, but I believe in Merry Christmas, Happy Easter and the Pledge of Allegiance. 

My point? How can someone wishing me Happy Holidays possibly take away from what I believe? How does it threaten me? If someone says “Have a blessed day,” am I not the recipient of a kindness regardless of my beliefs? I don’t get it. In a Season that is all too short, glossed over with commercialism, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, what has become of us that we can’t recognize kindness? Here’s what I wish. That if you celebrate Christmas, then may God bless us everyone, if you don’t, may your Season be full and may you be surrounded by love. Peace begins with each and every one of us, and it is my wish for all. 

Thank you, stepping off of my soap box, and going to the Christmas Concert with my family, amen.

2 comments:

  1. You are a much more tolerant and kind-hearted person than I am. I would have gone all Julia Sugarbaker on that woman's behind. A certain "news" network (and I won't mention their name -- but think of "bagels and lox") has for years promoted the (false) notion that any expression of holiday good wishes that doesn't include the word "Christmas" is somehow a evidence of a (mythical) left-wing "war on Christmas." What about all the other holidays that occur around this time of year? If the only one we're "allowed" to mention is Christmas, then aren't THEY waging "war" on all the others? Religious freedom is not about being "free" to impose one group's religious notions on everyone else. Grrrr. Now, where did I misplace my sense of holiday joy? I know I left it around here SOMEwhere...

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    1. Mea culpa. My last intent was to take away holiday cheer, but yes, freedom of religion is a cornerstone for our Nation, as is freedom of speech. We all have that right to express our opinions, but to impose on others...well, I feel ya. Thanks for the reply!

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