Merry ChristmaHanuKwanza

December 21st, 2009

Do you feel like I do, that the spirit of this most sacred of holidays is more a spirit of capitalism than the celebrations of our religious heritages?  Why are people more reluctant than ever to wish you a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukah?  Are we afraid to offend someone because they may be different than us?

In the spirit of capitalism, companies and individuals prefer to play it safe and wish one another a Happy Holiday than to extend them a greeting or a “well-wish” from the context of how they celebrate.   I don’t get it especially since we incessantly talk about diversity and our need of tolerance towards others.  There is no tolerance needed when all facets play it safe.  The more we know from each other, the more we can appreciate one another.

This country was founded on religious freedom—Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Mormons and alike have somewhere in their past evidence of religious persecution.  This is the “melting pot” of the world where diversity is celebrated on a daily basis.  Jews marry Catholics, Irish marry African Americans and men are marrying other men.  On one hand we insist on diversity yet on another we are not to acknowledge differences when it comes to how we extend a holiday greeting.

Societal protocol would suggest that I am to hide that I am a Catholic and not wish another Merry Christmas unless I know of their religious affiliation, and the same would apply to a Jewish colleague of mine for fear that we could offend the recipient.  That is a crazy notion.  I was at the airport the other day and two men were embracing one another in an obvious romantic way, saying good bye to one another and I wasn’t offended, why?  Diversity!  I saw an Indian woman at the grocery store and she was dressed appropriate to her country’s customs and I wasn’t offended, why?  Diversity!   Finally, I recently received a mezuzah as a gift from a Jewish friend of mine and I wasn’t offended, why? Diversity!  We proudly display how different we are; from tattoos on our arms to NFL teams we support to our sexual orientation, yet when it comes to expressing what holiday we celebrate we run the risk of violating an emerging social taboo.

For those of you, who wish to play it safe, consider extending a Merry ChristmaHanuKwanza to those you meet during this holiday season.   For the rest of us, extend a Holiday greeting or wish from the context of what you celebrate.  Just as you might extend a Happy Hanukah to someone you might receive back a Happy Kwanza!   And with that, I say to all of you Merry Christmas!

Paul Lushin

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