I’m at the top of the list of people who believe communities
are enhanced by a blend of diversity—mixed races, sexual orientations, religions
(or lack thereof), or cultures. I see the headlines about kids chastised at
school for saying “Merry Christmas”, or intolerance for people who have
different beliefs (when I was growing up, I didn’t know anyone who told me they
celebrated Hanukah instead of Christmas). When I was a kid, we were kinder to
each other. When I was in high school, I could have counted the number of black
students on one hand. They weren’t ignored, vilified, or segregated at my
school- we thought they were cool; if we even thought anything of their skin
color at all.
I was 21 years old when an acquaintance pulled me aside to ‘talk
to me’ about my dating a Jewish guy, Mickey Mosebach. She sounded so appalled I
was with a Jew (insert sneering tone) and I had no idea what she was upset
about. Twenty-one years old (1981) was my first personal experience with
religious/cultural prejudice. I’m sure bias was around as I was born in 1960,
close to the period of civil rights reform and equality protests, but my values
weren’t negatively impacted.
It breaks my heart young kids today have to be so careful
about offending someone with an excited “Merry Christmas.” I’m not religious,
but I love Christmas. To me, “The Holidays” aren’t a celebration of Jesus’
birth. The Holidays represent a time to exchange gifts with friends, or to
prepare and share my favorite meal (turkey with the trimmings is my tradition
for both Thanksgiving and Christmas). The Holidays give me an opportunity to
give back—donating to the food bank, inviting a friend with no (local) family
to share dinner, or to touch bases with people I love who live far away. It
could be argued, I should be doing this year-round… guess what, I do. But there’s something about the reflective
tone of The Holidays, which affords us a moment to stop our frenetic-paced
lives and take a breath, look around at all we have -- what we’ve accomplished
for the year, and maybe urges each of us to share our good fortune.
When I say Happy Holidays, I suppose I’m really saying “Isn’t
this a wonderful time in our lives? I wish good things to you and those you
love.”
