Muse – That Holiday Shtick

I’ve read a lot about the furor over saying ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than ‘Merry Christmas’. I figure I might as well weigh in some opinions, for what they’re worth.

As far as I see it, Happy Holidays is perfectly fine. If you judged by the panic emanating from some Christians, you’d think the term was just invented, but it’s been around for a long time. One wonders what the catalyst was this year to make it an issue over which panties get wadded.

Why is Happy Holidays a good term to use? Because December is the year of many holidays. You have Christmas, you have Hanukah, you have Kwanza, you have Ramadan and probably a bunch more that I can’t name off the top of my head.

As I’ve recently read, you don’t know just my looking at someone what they celebrate, so why not, when you pass someone in the street, belt out a jocular ‘Happy Holidays’! If the person is your average guy or gal, they’ll smile and know you’re wishing them well for the end of the year, no matter what they celebrate or what they believe. Some might take offense, but if they do they bring it on themselves by being too anal about something that, in the grand scheme of things, means so pitifully little that it’s pathetic to belabor it.

I won’t get in on the whole ‘Christmas is actually a dressed up pagan holiday’ thing. There are others who know more about that than I do. Besides, such justifications aren’t needed. Living in America, we live with a lot of people with a lot of different beliefs. As much as some might want their particular religion to rule the roost, that’s now how America was made. We were made for diversity, thus a diverse phrase trumps any specific one when talking to people in general.

Feel free to wish your loved ones and friends a specific acknowledgement of their preferred holiday, but don’t start harassing those who decide they want to go more general. Such dark thoughts aren’t what the holiday season is all about. Or something like that.

So Happy Holidays!

PS: The annual Christmas trip is coming up. I’ll be flying out on the 23rd, so the 22nd will be my last entry for the year. Next after that will likely come Jan 3rd, the day I get back to work.

PPS: My posting this in the politics circle was a mistake. Too used to clikcing hte very first entry when putting in there, did it on automatic. :p