Friday, December 24, 2004
Pam Dzama, Echo Chamber
Her rant today: Christmas ain't like it used to be. They're stealing Christmas. Christmas is under attack by those traitorous liberals. ... well, OK, so she didn't use the word traitorous. A sample of the standard right-wing silliness:
Christmas carols are no longer sung in most schools. You won't hear "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". It's been replaced by "Frosty the Snowman." When I was teaching, my elementary school students would sing Christmas, Hanukkah and secular songs, but that's impossible now.
This is not quite accurate. This year's Christmas Concert at Klahowya Secondary School, as it has been every year, included religious Christmas carols. As a secularist that doesn't bother me at all. And I suspect most secularist, atheists, agnostics, liberals and Democrats are not bothered by this as well. So the statement is wrong.
The great majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, but it appears this tradition has been hijacked by secularists bent on political correctness.
Actually, most of us really don't care. We enjoy the holiday just like those that are religious. Except Poor Pam. She wants to be angry about Christmas. She goes on:
Metropolis, the Gallery, in Bremerton is an artists' co-op. This month their featured exhibit is entitled "Your Own Personal Jesus — A Conceptual Show." Since Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, I thought the show might be interesting. I'm not an art critic and I know "art" exists in the eye of the beholder, but most of the show reminded me of the pop culture, anti-establishment work of the 1960s, including the sale of tie-dyed T-shirts and socks.Pam seems to have difficulty with people who have opinions and ideas different than her own:
... I'm sure these were meant to be angry protests about our times but if these renditions represent the "personal Jesus" of these artists, He's unrecognizable to me. And, there were no happy Christmas messages here.
Yet the real reason for this season is the miracle birth of Jesus Christ and the promise He brings the world. It's impossible to celebrate this occasion without in some way recognizing its religious nature. Christ is God's gift, not Santa's. He signifies the true meaning of Christmas. So, while some others may wish you "happy holidays", I'll wish you a very Merry Christmas.Of course, there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas in the manner and traditions of one's own family. And there's nothing wrong with celebrating in ways that are different. But it seems that there is one Christmas tradition upon which we can all predict: certain people will complain that someone else doesn't understand and appreciate the "true meaning of Christmas." I saw this silliness when I was a kid. I saw it as a young man. And it continues today. Across the country. With the same old complaints.
My advice to Pam Dzama: get over it. We're not all the same. Some folks are not even religious. So what. Celebrate the holiday in your own way, but don't expect everyone else to parrot what you do and say.
