Christmas Wishes

The two Christmas’s are upon us. The first Christmas starts sometime in November and it can’t end fast enough for me. It’s the commercial Christmas. It falls in the time known in the popular vernacular as “The Holidays”. We buy Holiday presents and wish Holiday happiness and even put up Holiday decorations. It fills the airwaves, highways, advertising media, movie selections, grocery stores and anything else you can think of – and even a few places you can’t think of. Then there is the true Christmas where some of us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Most of us know that He wasn’t born in December. But December was the month that the pagans celebrated their winter solstice holiday. And the church supplanted the pagan holidays with Christmas. This was a standard part of the conversion process in the early church; blot out the old with the new. But some of the old still remains. Think of Christmas trees. Well we Christians are now fighting to have our Christmas not blotted out by the new. What’s the new you ask? It’s a combination of secularism, commercialism and political correctness. It’s easy to understand commercialism in America. You can’t have a private moment without someone trying to sell you something. Secularism’s not that difficult either. Modern religion has gotten a bad rap in the recent years. Some of it deserved and some not. So some people have become more secular and less religious. Then there is political correctness. That’s where we are supposed to ignore the differences that bring the richness to our lives and act as though everyone is the same. So saying Merry Christmas can be seen as an insult to a non-Christian. I have a difficult time with that concept. I don’t see the harm in wishing someone the joy that Christian’s love to share on Christmas. Even if they are of another religious belief. Now if you where to say, “Merry Christmas if you are a Christian and if not, the heck with you”, that could present a problem. Most of the Christians I know feel a genuine love of other people during our Christmas holidays. And they don’t classify their good wishes for “Christians Only”. I have Jewish friends who wish me Merry Christmas. I wish them Happy Hanukkah. I have Muslim friends who wish me Merry Christmas. I wish peace upon them and their loved ones. I have atheist friends who send good wishes. (Yes, that’s right. I have atheist friends) I return the greeting. Christmas is known as a time of good will toward all people. Notice that it doesn’t say only toward other Christians. Americans are extremists. For some reason there never seems to be a middle ground. I think it’s time we declare political correctness a misguided effort to make us all the same. It doesn’t work. It ignores the reality of the world, within which we live. I don’t mean that we should become disagreeable and insult each other. I mean that I see nothing wrong with acknowledging that people are different. We do have different belief systems and values. We look different. We eat and celebrate differently. I for one would like to know more about how other people experience the world. It can only expand my world view. But it’s not necessary in doing so that I give up what I hold sacred. I will wish everyone I know a Merry Christmas this year. If I happen to wish it to you and you don’t share my religious traditions, please don’t take offense. I mean nothing disrespectful to you or your traditions. I’m simply sending the spirit of good will that is associated with Christmas. But this happens to be my holiday and I have many wonderful memories associated with it. I want to celebrate it the way I always have – wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.