Wishing all a Merry Christmas!

The following is a column by Publius written in December of 2005

“Happy Holidays!” “Season’s Greetings” How about hearing a “Merry Christmas” once in a while from fellow Americans behind store counters or at the local Post Office. It seems as if wishing each other a nice season or a happy holiday is about as clear as we’ll get when hoping to hear a response from politically correct America. I hope the reader doesn’t mind my asking a question, but what holiday are we actually celebrating? What season is it? I was of the opinion that it was Christmas. Now of course, other religions celebrate other holidays, such as Hannukah and a few others. The main holiday, however, would happen to be Christmas. Some Jews even celebrate Christmas, simply as a time of giving. Some say all this political correctness will not lead anywhere. I believe it will. All these complex, non-offensive rules and regulations is leading to absolute absurdity and nonsense. We are now to the point where we are creating names for traditional symbols and customs. In Bellevue, Washington, for instance, the elementary school Christmas tree was renamed this year, “ The Giving Tree.” However, the term “giving” bore an overly “offensive” resemblance to the Christian holiday, which Americans celebrate around this time of year. I’m sorry to say it, but for the past five hundred or six hundred years, a Christmas tree has been called a Christmas tree. Now in the new millennium, it seems as if things have got to change to prevent offense.
Have you every heard of a nativity scene simply including the animals and the shepherds, but absenting Mary, Jesus and Joseph? Well, that’s what was instituted in Memphis, Tennessee in a library display. In New York, the city is proudly displaying its menorah or crescent and star in the public park, but a citizen would be better off not even asking for city officials to display a Christmas tree. New York justifies this exemption of specific “religious” symbols, declaring that symbols such as the menorah and crescent represent a “secular dimension.” And don’t expect to be sending friends and relatives Christmas cards with the annual Christmas stamp, bearing Mary and the Baby Jesus. This year, the Post Office will not be issuing its annual Christmas stamp, nor are postal workers permitted to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to merry customers. Yes, the race is on to see who can exclude Christmas in the most absurd way. One television commercial poking fun at the entire, confusing battle, wished viewers a “Happy Merry Kwanzukah.” Lowe’s Hardware Store advertised its sale of “Holiday Trees” until Christian viewers complained. Later a Lowe’s spokesperson confirmed that Lowe’s had gone back to advertising the Christmas decorations as Christmas trees.
However much dismay we may express at all of the ludicrous occurrences above, there have been successes this year as Mayors of two cities and Wal-Mart rejected the absurd complaints of the politically correct. Boston’s Mayor and Parks Commissioner have deferred to Common Sense and renamed Boston’s “holiday tree” a Christmas tree for the holiday it actually represents. Encinitas, California Mayor Dan Dalager has “braved criticism from the politically correct crowd” as the Family Research Council puts it, by renaming the city’s “holiday parade” a Christmas parade, the name it bore for many years, until activist lawyers or the ACLU got a hold of it. The offended persons complaining of the renaming by Mayor Dalager included the local Girl Scouts council and the Bernese Mountain Dog club of Southern California. I am glad the Mayor has resisted repeated attempts to “let Christmas go to the dogs” in Encinitas and I hope Mayors and school board members alike take notice of how the majority of Americans fell concerning the issue. The reader will also be happy to hear that Congress’ Christmas tree has been restored, because “a Christmas tree is a Christmas tree, and it’s as simple as that,” according to Ron Bonjean, spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert. Speaker Hastert believes as most of us do that calling things by their right name is only natural and logical and all this politically correct foolishness is quite enough. Although the big superstore chain of Target, officially prefers to say “Happy Holidays” and have banned the Salvation Army from their doors, Wal-Mart has decided in favor of keeping these bringers of the true Christmas spirit. The American Family Association
In recent years, the ACLU and other activists bent on advancing their radical agenda into one of the year’s most memorable times of the year. Although the stories are already beginning of libraries and public schools fearfully renaming trees and adjusting holiday displays to avoid being sued, Mayors and other officials in America are beginning to truly hear the voice of Americans saying, “Enough is enough. It’s alright to say ‘Merry Christmas !’” Americans are fed up with this extreme, leftist political correctness and the activists who bring them to court. America needs to continue to stand up for what it believes and resist activist groups who hope to ruin Christmas for the masses by defending exaggerated complaints by the few. If some Americans don’t wish to celebrate the holiday, they don’t have to, but communities should have the collective right to call their celebrations what they want to and public school boards have the right to display holiday symbols which reflect the views of a majority of their students. As for now, I am going to join the ever growing majority of officials and citizens who are recognizing the absurdity of this prattle and taking a stand on it, and wish you and all America (including the leftist activists) a very Merry Christmas!