[Gpdd] MISC: Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus ... controversy

[Marsha Neely]

MISC:  Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus ... controversy

I really tried to stay out of this, but I'm just not strong enough to resist
the urge.  I guess I don't understand how, on the guinea pig digest, this
got to be such an issue.  I hope that when I say "Merry Christmas", you hear
"Happy ..." or "Merry ..." or whatever applies to your religion or
tradition, and just know that I am wishing you all well.  To those of you
who are Jewish, I hope when "Merry Christmas" leaves my lips, it reaches
your ears as "Happy Hanukkah".  If you are a Costanza, maybe you hear "Happy
Festivus".  (That's a Seinfeld reference, and I mean no disrespect to the
season by that either.)  I guess my point is that I wish others Merry
Christmas because I know what that means to me as a Christian.  If someone
says Happy Hanukkah to me, I appreciate their thoughts and caring in wishing
me well.  I think that people who take offense on behalf of their religion
when someone is only wishing them the happiness they understand because of
their religion, are kind of missing the whole point of religion in the first
place.

I am the victim's advocate at a domestic violence crisis
center.  For way too many people, holidays like Christmas (or whatever you
celebrate) just bring more violence and fear than the rest of the year.
"Tis the season" has an entirely different meaning for them, which kind of
makes our discussion here seem a little selfish, don't you think?  Celebrate
whatever, say whatever, just be happy that we have the freedom to celebrate
in our own way.  Every day that I wake up is a happy, merry day.

One final point, our common thread here is the love of our furbabies, and
I'm pretty sure they're nondenominational.

Marsha