November 29, 2007
What Happened to Christmas?
Christmas has always stood for a time of giving gifts and spending time with those you care about such as friends and family. Christmas is supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year. I feel there is a dark cloud hanging over Christmas. I remember growing up at Christmas time you could bring gifts to school, sing Christmas carols, and say “Merry Christmas” and “Ho Ho Ho”. What happened to freedom of speech? I feel as if I don’t have that freedom anymore. The government has stopped public (government funded) organizations from saying “Merry Christmas” and instead saying “Happy Holiday”, because it can be considered offensive. Many businesses followed in the same steps because they did not want to receive bad publicity. What does it really matter how a person wishes someone a “Merry Christmas”? I do not understand how people can take “Merry Christmas” offensively, it does not hurt anyone and it is not associated with anything bad or wrong. I believe it is wrong to have to worry about if you are being “politically correct” about a holiday or if by wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” it will offend them. Another place under attack is the school system. There is currently a petition going before the Supreme Court due to public school policies allowing recognition of Ramadan, Hanukkah, but not a Christian holiday. Some schools have banned the colors of red and green for parties and asked parents not to bring Christmas decorated desserts and food to school for the children. I do not understand how a Christmas tree cookie is going to harm anyone, except for worrying about a cavity or two. Holiday parties with the colors of green and red are not harmful to anyone. These are just happy colors associated with a certain time of year. I could understand banning the colors if they were associated with a gang or something else bad, but not because they are “Christmassy”. I feel as an American citizen I should be allowed to practice and say what I want during the holidays. When did saying “Ho Ho Ho” become bad? These words at Christmas time have been around since the 1800’s. They were originally described by Clement Clarke in what is now known as “The Night before Christmas”. Since his poem in 1823 Santa’s laugh has always been a jolly “Ho Ho Ho”. It is our society which have taken those jolly words and turned them into a bad association. There is a difference in one “Ho” and many “Ho Ho Ho’s”. I have never heard a person dressed as Santa Claus or anyone else ever use one “Ho” when wishing a “Merry Christmas”. I think if we keep going on with this type of behavior as Americans we will lose our history of a wonderful time of year. Our history of giving, being selfless, and kind. It is shown in studies people are nicer to strangers at Christmas than any other time of the year.
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Although I agree with the freedom of speech aspect of my colleague’s blog I do not agree with the point they are trying to make about Christmas. Yes I do think that saying, “Merry Christmas” should not harm anyone due to its meaning of a well wish for the holidays, but as a convert to Judaism from Christianity I do feel that the point about saying Happy Holidays is not about offending people it about respect of the other religions. Yes we do live in a predominantly Christian world but in my opinion it is hypocritical for people to say that they respect every religion if they cannot even get over the fact of having to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. The reason the Government doesn’t want public, government funded programs to say “Merry Christmas” is because they want to seem impartial; they do not want to cause a rift about religion because it is such a touchy subject, they went the best way they could without taking away the spirit of wishing well at this time for year. I think that this was the best option for all involved because it shows RESPECT for ALL religions and just because we live in a Christian world doesn’t mean they own the world, and that they are the only ones who get to be wished well. Also in the schools, THEY ARE GOVERNMENT FUNDED, so of course they are going to want to stay away from religion, you know the separation of church and state. I understand that holiday parties are nice for the kids but if they are going to celebrate one I would think that it would be only right to celebrate them all, so what if the cookies can’t be red and green. If I remember correctly Christmas isn’t even about the green and red, and Santa, it is about Jesus, so of course people who do not worship Jesus may be a hair offended when one associates them with Jesus. In the end all that “Happy Holidays” is asking for is respect, they are not trying to infringe on your rights they are just asking for you to respect others and if you cannot get over that, then please just only wish those who you know are Christian a “Merry Christmas”.
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