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Merry Christmas 019:
By Willie Gaffer:
December 19, 2005:
I have said this before, but I feel the need to say it again. let's try to get into the spirit of the holiday. For crap's sake, just for this season, let's put a hold on this polarizing insanity that has us in its grip. I did not want to believe it, but I heard it on the news so it might be correct. According to this sound byte, some school somewhere has officially banned the use of the word Christmas. Is that ridiculous or what? Next, they will want to ban the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Klaus, and the groundhog.
This silliness has gone way beyond insanity. It is excess beyond excess. It is cowardly and stupid. We have madmen on all sides screeching about rights, worship, and God. On one side we have nut cases trying to deny the common words of our language and the existence of the mythology that produced them. On the other side we have nut cases who want to force everyone to worship their god or else! We even have people propagating the lie that the United States was founded as a Christian nation.
Just for the record, the United States was not founded as a Christian nation as so many of these political and religious extremist liars claim. In fact, ours was the first nation in human history that was officially founded as a completely secular nation. The United States was very clearly established with constitutional safeguards against the kind of official religious persecutions that had been taking place in England and Europe. The intent is clearly stated in our first amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ...
This very strictly forbids government endorsement of any specific religion. Now, these polarizing right wing nut cases, after years of trying, have finally got their toady in the White House. They intend to change us into a Christian nation by force if necessary. Eventually, if these people can hold on to power, we will have a law against unorthodox worship. Our children will be forced to worship according to the right wing religious laws rather than seeking spirituality according to their conscience.
That is just one side of it. It is reasonable to resist that. It is not reasonable to make up bogeymen where none exist. That is the other extreme where we have fools polarizing the holiday celebrations with stupid rules, laws, and prohibitions. It is enough to try to keep religion out of our official government proceedings. There is no reason at all to punish kids for honoring their family traditions. Kids get punished enough already.
Why have we forgotten that this is a holiday season with meaning for all of us? For most of us, Christmas is a season of celebration, feasting, gift giving, and renewing family and ethnic connections. The honest truth is, most people took the Christ out of Christmas long ago. No one forced that. It just came about as a result of commercializing everything about our culture. We could make up arguments about how and why that happened, We could even argue about whether it's a good or bad thing. Okay, but let's save it for another time.
For now, let's try to get into the spirit of the season, whatever it means to you. For me it means pausing to think about who and what I am. It's a chance to see people I care about but don't see often enough. It's a time to reflect and think about my blessings and what I ought to be doing to earn them. It is not necessary to believe in any particular myth to do these things. It is sufficient to be a caring human being who wants the best for his culture and fellow men. It's really about being polarized toward the joy of being human. If you need to be polarized, why not try that? That's about celebrating our common values and heritage. We are after all, all human beings. We are of the same race. We have the same ancestors.
So let us celebrate however we do it. This is how we do it. On Christmas day, our children and grandchildren will celebrate the holiday in the bosom of their own home as they should. They will create their own traditions and their own memories. There will be the warm feeling of home with hugs a-plenty and darn good food. It will not be about gifts, though there will be those too. The day will live in their hearts and minds as it does in our's and our children's as a day of warmth and love.
Mrs. Gaffer and I will spend Christmas day here together. It will be just the two of us. We will enjoy it quietly with a fire, a simple meal, and a bottle of good wine. It will be a good day. It will be the kind of day I wish for all people everywhere, a day of peace and goodness. Then our children with our grandchildren will come to visit us on the day after Christmas. Of course the tree will be there in the parlor with its blue lights and bells. There will also be gifts beneath the tree. At the appropriate time, they will be distributed and opened. There will also be the traditional dinner. This year, at our house, that will be a prime rib roast, and all the other stuff that goes with it.
Now, with our own holiday joy assured, I do want to wish everyone the same. I want everyone to discover, as we have, the good concepts of this holiday season. I would like to see everyone feeling the warmth and goodness which lurks within our hearts. I want all of us to reach inside and find that part of us that wants only good. I want everyone to have a holiday as good as ours will be. May the spirit of the season, however it comes to you, dwell in your hearts and minds, now and from now on.
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa,
or something else, I wish this for you:
That you home be safe and secure;
That you have fuel for your fire;
That you have honest work to do;
That you and you children have food a-plenty;
That you have someone to love;
That you open your heart to your neighbors;
That you take pride in yourself, your work, and your community.
Gaffer:
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