Merry Christmas...Yeay!
Sunday night I attended Mass at St. Anne's in Barrington. In the section to my left was a little girl, no more than three years old. Her long brown hair was arrayed in festive pincurls and she wore a velvet Christmas dress. As the genuinely lovely and melodic arrangement of the Psalm response ended she jumped up, clapped her little hands in in spontaneous delight, and shouted, "Yeay!" The whole church chuckled affectionately.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving I was in a store (which shall remain nameless) and decided to look through the Christmas Cards. To my dismay I found a bunch of Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings, several Kwanzaas, even a Festivus - but not a single Merry Christmas.
I don't get particularly exercised over people who painstakingly avoid all mention of Christ in public. In fact, when those who extol the charms of Quetzlcoatl, Wicca and New Age nonsense as celebrations of diversity shrink in terror that the mere mention of Christ might strike a mortal blow to all they hold sacred, I smile in silent satisfaction: they, too, know which name has real, enduring power and tremble at the mention of it.
But if I am undisturbed when others shrink from the name, I am deeply angered when political correctness dictates I can't find a single mention of Christ in a major store's display of cards celebrating the season of His birth.
The most dangerous flaw in political correctness is that it is usually a matter of a minority bullying a majority into silence. For a time, the majority takes it - in guilt over past instances of its own bullying tactics. Sooner or later, though, it dawns on the majority that... "hey, it's been a long time since we bullied anyone. Now we're being bullied relentlessly and, by God, we're the majority. You wanna bully; we'll show you how to bully!" And so it goes...
I never stopped saying Merry Christmas, but I never got offended when anyone offered me a hearty Happy Holidays, either.
I am glad many Christians have found their voice again and are saying Merry Christmas. I am not so glad that some are saying it in a tone of voice usually reserved for expletives.
It was a mistake for the p.c. crowd to believe that forced intolerance of majority sentiment could lead to anything but a repressive backlash. It was a mistake for the majority to ever allow itself to be cowed about its nobler sentiments in the first place. But I ask Christians to make of this a teaching moment: instead of mirroring the shrill bullying of p.c. intolerance, let us show them the better way of serene mutual tolerance.
And so, dear reader, I wish you a very Merry Christmas! (And by that, I mean, "Yeay!", not "Up yours.")
4 comments:
Nicely said.
I sympathize with you.. sort of...
I had a job where we would do a Christmas party. The boss would give us gifts but it was a violation of ethics rules to give her gifts.
The Christmas Part was also awkward because there were just people who plain disliked each other.
Early one Dec an Admin Aide announced she would not be taking part in the Christmas party because she had become a Jehovah's Witness and no longer celebrated the Holiday.
I asked her after the meeting about it and she said she was fibbing and just wanted an out from the whole thing. I asked her if she would mind if I announced a conversion next day but thought they might blow her cover.
...so I was stuck again sitting around the boss opening a present.
Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday to all the readers.
Try your local Christian book store. The best prices are right after Christmas, of course.
I also found some quite attractive ones at discount stores...before Christmas.
I quote this: let us show them the better way of serene mutual tolerance.
To then point out this: In fact, when those who extol the charms of Quetzlcoatl, Wicca and New Age nonsense as celebrations of diversity shrink in terror that the mere mention of Christ might strike a mortal blow to all they hold sacred, I smile in silent satisfaction: they, too, know which name has real, enduring power and tremble at the mention of it.
I shudder to think that if that was an example of your tolerance what form your intolerance might take. Of course my mother always taught me that it isn't very tolerant to belittle someone else's beliefs but you go ahead thinking that is what Jesus would do.
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