Ever the bellweather writer, the fair-weather fan, and as a follower versus leading the pack, I am jumping on the bandwagon to ride on somebody else’s coattails. (There, I think that nicely sums up my general input on important issues.)
That said, wow, what is happening here in the land of the free and the home of the brave? And why do a few bullies always make things difficult for the rest of us fun-loving, life-living folk?
A couple of things first.
1. The Pilgrims came to America because of religious reasons. Being a Puritan wasn’t hip in jolly ol? England. (Also, the economy wasn’t grand in Europe. They spent 12 years in Holland, before heading to North America.) They gave thanks — had themselves a Thanksgiving because, being religious, they thought it would be nice to thank the Guy upstairs for keeping them alive in the hard New World. (Also, because Puritans were religious, they burned a few folks for being witches, but we won’t get into that.It’s Christmastime after all, and we burn candles these days, not witches.)
2. The United States Constitution says our government can’t establish a religion, but neither should it prohibit the ‘free exercise thereof.?
In America, for all our inclusiveness, the holiday season we are in, since Black Thursday (the day the Detroit Lions got spanked in front of a national TV audience), is Christmastime.
Christmas time. Son of God time. Jesus time. That said, folks across the nation — even locally — are getting whizzed off at the secularization of Christmas. It’s one thing to make tons of money off gift buying Christians, it’s another to make money off the gift buying Christians and then erase the name Christ.
Folks are taking offense to calling Christmas trees Holiday trees and Christmas songs Holiday songs. It’s happening everywhere, and we ain’t immune to this — well, read the following e-mail:
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Dear Citizen (our newspaper in Ortonville, Groveland and Goodrich) Editors,
I am irate, discouraged and disappointed just to name a few emotions at this time.
Your printing of the Top 25 ‘Holiday? songs in The Citizen’s Christmas Guide this week has just sickened me. Did you even notice there weren’t any Christmas Carols in there?
Silent Night, First Noel, Hark the Herald Angels Sing or O Holy Night just to name a few.
Do you mean to tell me the Santa Baby beats out Silent Night? I don’t think so. I don’t care that you covered yourselves with the source: Amer. Soc. of Composers, Authors and Publishers, you as Editors are responsible for printing such trash. I’m tired of the complacency over the effort taking place to demean the true meaning of Christmas. How sad that you are being sucked up by this movement and fueling the fire with your politically correct complacency.
With a sickened heart, Shauny McCormick
So, Shauny, what do you really think?
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Here’s an e-mail from Oxford’s Todd Lawrie.
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Dear Don,
Sitting in the reading room this morning and reading a 20-plus page K-Mart advertising circular, I noticed Christmas was not mentioned once. Trees were called ‘trees,? decorations were called ‘holiday? and gifts were called ‘gifts.?
If we are going to ignore the reason for the season, why not have it in the warmer weather so we can have a ‘holiday? bar-b-que at a ‘holiday? swim party. Let’s call it ‘Jumpin Jiminey? Non-Denominational (and politically correct) Gift Giving Day.
Since these retailers are capitalizing on a holiday, ‘Christ’s Mass,? the celebration of the birth of the Baby Jesus, shouldn’t they either be obligated to acknowledge it or should we not take our ‘gift? shopping to stores that do? After all, if they are going to make huge profits off this celebration of one day of the year, they should feel obligated to at least concede the true source/meaning of the day.
Am I the only one that feels this way?
Just a passing thought.
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Both Todd and I contacted K-Mart via e-mail. Abbreviated, here’s their reply: ‘Sears and K-Mart appreciate the many holiday traditions that are celebrated by our customers during this time of year. As in past holiday seasons, we are dedicated to making our stores as comfortable, inviting and inclusive as possible during this special season. Since we serve customers from all walks of life, we endeavor to make our stores festive, while respecting that our customers celebrate many different customs throughout the holidays ??
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So, dear readers what are your thoughts? Go to our website (www.oxfordleader.com) and enter yours in the Blog Don Rush section.