It’s that time of year again. Time for lawsuits about nativity scenes in the public square, arguments about religious music that got snuck into “holiday” concerts, memos about not decorating schools with Jesus or Santa, editorials about the holiday tree, or discourse about Wal Mart finally deciding to wish people a Merry Xmas instead of the ubiquitous “Happy Holidays” which has always struck me as hilarious anyway. Everyone knows Happy Holidays means Merry Christmas to someone who isn’t yet a Christian but given enough time and prayer, will be.
I wonder if I should start wishing my non-believing friends, “Patience!” or to friends who are holding out making a decision just in case there is a God and they die and go to hell a cheery, “Happy Ambivalence!“
Instead of telling any of them to have a blessed holiday season, I’ll tell them to have a lucky one.
I loved the long, long parade of Menorah topped cars along Port Washington Drive last week. Although I had to wait for the 8X 200 oversized candles to pass, it was totally worth it. I figure every year they have to put up with two months of micro-chip versions of already annoying songs, shelves of smell bad candles and Xmas mugs from people who mean well, but assume too much. It’s time they got to share the street with the reindeer. While I'm at it, I would like to see some public Walgreen acknowledgement of people who celebrate “Festivus” and those pastafarians out there who would probably like to be wished a very noodly New Year. May I be the first.
I appreciate that Shorewood administrators and board members remind staff that our clients have diverse ways of living and thinking and not to overdue the Christmas stuff. Even so, there are plenty of snowmen surrounded with wrapped presents, reindeer strung around the windows and Rudolph sweaters with twinkling light-up noses that make it through the doors with adults not quite able to not advertise that they celebrate Xmas. Of course, it is understandable that people believe they are what they believe. If we teachers could start our thinking about social studies with that premise, our lessons would be interesting indeed. What makes people fight over land, defend a building, sacrifice their lives? Religion is in there somewhere almost every time. Even if we can’t accept what other people think, we must at least accept that people do think differently than we do and make decisions based on those beliefs in their everyday lives. Those beliefs are what makes everyday lives, and that is often forgotten in elementary social studies lessons.
So bring on the steroidal menorahs, the drunk Santas, bags bright with burning candles, noodly appendages and all 12 days of Christmas . We can handle it.
