The War on Christmas and my reply

[Tressa]

Today I received two forwarded emails from friends about this "war on christmas" issue. The two emails and then my reply are below. I haven't sent my reply to my friends yet. Please feel free to make suggestions.
---------------------------
(first email)

Merry Christmas

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Walmart and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!
------------------------------------------------
(second email)

This Is Not A Holiday Tree

(picture of a decorated tree)

This is a Christmas tree
It is not a Hanukkah bush
it is not an Allah plant
it is not a Holiday hedge
It is a Christmas tree
Say it...CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas
Yes CHRISTMAS - celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ!
Take a Stand and pass this on!!
----------------------------
(my as of yet unsent reply)

Twas the Month of December

Twas the month of December and all through the land
people were marching to the sound of their own band
There was the song of happiness as many holidays were coming
each to be celebrated within an individual’s heart pumping
In public places there is no one way
for all are welcome on any day
Through the air ride greetings from multiple voices
rejoicing in this society of many choices
No matter what your reason for cheer
all are on equal ground here
Thanks to our First Amendment
there is no cause for resentment
whether it be Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Christmas or Solstice
no one jubilee is put in front and on notice
There are some so weak that if their selection is not first
their faith is shaken and they think the worst
Ignoring their god was not actually born at this time
they feel it is only their moment to make merry and rhyme
They seem to forget the history of theocracy
and how it can turn freedom into a mockery
Perhaps they need a reminder and should stop being rowdy
and get on a plane and celebrate in Pakistan or Saudi
Maybe then they’ll see how it would be an ugly fate
if there was no wall between church and state
For those of us with an open heart and enlightened mind
we will delve through our options and our own beliefs we’ll find
To celebrate something or celebrate nothing is a determination we are all free to make
and that is a triumph we should never give up or consider a mistake
So regardless of our holiday greeting let us be hand in hand
for freedom of choice is the only thing on which to make our stand

 

[gtc]

Can I be the first to ask:

Why do you hate Christmas?

Hating Christmas makes baby santa cry.

 

[fuelair]

And when baby Santa cries, baby Jeebus wakes up and starts crying too. Oooooh you baby hating old meanie!!!!!

 

[Phaedrus74]

I appreciate the sentiment you are putting forward in your (as of yet?) unsent reply. I would suggest a minor change for facts sake:

and get on a plane and celebrate in the Vatican or Saudi
Maybe then they’ll see how it would be an ugly fate
if there was no wall between church and state

Because there is in fact a wall between church and state in Pakistan
(I tried to preserve the meter...)

Happy Holidays!

 

[Tailgater]

I'm all for eliminating any holiday. If you want a holiday, take a vacation day. Rip out all those holiday displays in every store. Get rid of the easter bunny. I get flashbacks of the Holy Grail. Get rid of halloween. I'm sure that holiday offends plenty of religions. St Patricks day.....I don't even know what it is, but everyone gets drunk, so let's keep it. Hell, get rid of thanksgiving because I don't think too many native Americans really care to be reminded of the beginning of the end. Don't stop there. Goodbye fourth of July. Walmart better not offend non-citizens, so let's call it "freedom day".

Tear down the wall!! Tear down the wall!! Tear down the wall!!

Seriously though, there should be no religion in public schools, buildings or government agency, and don't use public supported tv or radio for promotion, but I could really care less what private retailers do to sell crap. I worked in a 97% jewish neighborhood grocery store during college, and we never put up a single Christmas display. No money in it. Retailers try to sell to their target consumer based on anything. It could be religion, race, age, income, etc. If you go to a store in a college town, everything in the storefront sells t-shirts from that college. If you go to a store in a hispanic area, expect everything to be hispanic and they might not even speak English. Oh no!!!! Don't go to a store in a bad neighborhood and expect clean bathrooms. I find that more offensive. Not everyone can be included in everything a business does. It would be impossible. There is always going to be one person to come along and say what about me, and what is fair for Walmart should be fair for every small business from here to Chinatown. If local people want to push a local business into including more groups in a display, that's great, but it should never even come up in the government.

Oh ya... is that ok? Or are the elves too much?

 

[Michael Redman]

Most people don't actually view Christmas as a celebration of the birth of the son of god. We have days and months named after gods and men. That doesn't mean we worship them. I don't have any problem with Christmas. People just need to accept the fact that it's a secular holiday for some, and a religious holiday for others. There's no justification for insisting people celebrate one way or the other, or not at all. I guess people just feel threatened when others act differently than they do.

 

[Beerina]

I always make it a point to download some porn on Christmas morning before everyone gets up, just in case Yahweh actually exists.

 

[mumchup]

I always make it a point to download some porn on Christmas morning before everyone gets up, just in case Yahweh actually exists.

And you could put it on a flash drive and leave it out for Santa. I bet he would appreciate a change from all the cookies.

Good poem Tressa, I may have to plagerize...

 

[Tressa]

...
and get on a plane and celebrate in the Vatican or Saudi
Maybe then they’ll see how it would be an ugly fate
if there was no wall between church and state
...

The people who sent me the emails are Catholic so they would love a trip to the Vatican for Christmas.
"and get on a plane and celebrate some place like Saudi" ?

...Good poem Tressa, I may have to plagerize...

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery! Thanks!

A few changes made:

Twas the Month of December

Twas the month of December and all through the land
people were marching to the sound of their own band
There is a song of happiness as many holidays were coming
each to be celebrated within an individual’s heart pumping
In public places there are no decorations of One Way
for all are welcome on any day
Through the air ride greetings from multiple voices
rejoicing in this society of many choices
No matter what your reason for cheer
all are on equal ground here
Thanks to our First Amendment
there is no cause for resentment
whether it be Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Christmas or Solstice
no one jubilee is put in front and on notice
There are some so weak that if their selection is not first
their faith is shaken and they think the worst
Ignoring their god was not actually born at this time
they feel it is only their moment to make merry and rhyme
They seem to forget the history of theocracy
and how it can turn freedom into a mockery
Perhaps they need a reminder and should stop being rowdy
and get on a plane and celebrate in some place like Saudi
Maybe then they’ll see how it would be an ugly fate
if there was no wall between church and state
For those of us with an open heart and enlightened mind
we will delve through our options and our own beliefs we’ll find
To celebrate something or celebrate nothing is a decision we are all free to make
and that is a triumph we should never give up or consider a mistake
So regardless of our holiday greeting let us be hand in hand
for the freedom to choose is the only thing on which to take a stand

 

[Phaedrus74]

Yeah, if they're catholic that wouldn't work ;-)

Your latest change makes the sentence run even better!!
Love it.

 

[Jednorozec]

Don't forget the words of Jesus from the Gospel of St. Pagan 12:2-5
"Thou shalt go into the woods and cut down a small evergreen tree and bring it into thy house. Then thou shalt hang all manner of ornaments from its branches and place candles upon it. And then place the presents under it. Do this to celebrate my birthday."

Then there's the Tom Lehrer song that expresses the true spirit of Christmas. I can't remember the name of the song or the album right now but the line that immediately comes to mind is "Angels we have heard on high tell us to go out and buy." And that's the bottom line of this grate holiday season.

 

[Lothian]

Today I received two forwarded emails from friends about this "war on christmas" issue. The two emails and then my reply are below. I haven't sent my reply to my friends yet. Please feel free to make suggestions.

You call this a Christmas tree,
But Jesus, it is not for he,
Read Jeremia 10:2 to 4
and circulate your spam no more.

 

[Cainkane1]

You can enjoy your Christmas tree and music in the privacy of your own home. You can sing in your church. You can pray at home or church or you can pray anywhere you want as long as you don't make another person pray or celebrate Christmas if they don't want to.

 

[cloudshipsrule]

A seasonal greating is a personal thing. The person whom initiates the greeting gets to choose.

If someone says to me "Merry Christmas!", I say "Merry Christmas!" back to them.

If someone says "Happy Hanukka!", I say "Happy Hanukka!"

If someone says "Happy Holidays!", I say "Happy Holidays!"

If someone says "Merry Kwanzaa!", I say "What the F%$& is that?"

 

[Michael Redman]

A seasonal greating is a personal thing. The person whom initiates the greeting gets to choose.

That's too reasonable!

I think that when you meet someone, you guess what greeting they want. If you get it right, they return the greeting. If you get it wrong, they reply, "Get bent!" and slap you on the backside.

 

[Tailgater]

You can enjoy your Christmas tree and music in the privacy of your own home. You can sing in your church. You can pray at home or church or you can pray anywhere you want as long as you don't make another person pray or celebrate Christmas if they don't want to.

But retail stores can't have a Christmas tree?

Anyone want to define the borders of acceptability?

 

[mumchup]

Sure the retail stores can have a Christmas tree. They can have whatever they want, they are not the government. And they can call it by whatever name they want because they are not the government. They could also sell only products emblazioned with the face of the Pope if they wanted, although that would be bad for business.
And despite what some people think, there are people in this country who might have other holidays to celebrate at this time of year. And they may go to the store and buy things.
This whole angry mess is just another example of "Your very existence is hurting my beliefs/self-worth."*

*For examples see "Gay marriage degrades my marriage" and "Evolution makes me feel like people aren't special anymore"

 

[fuelair]

Sure the retail stores can have a Christmas tree. They can have whatever they want, they are not the government. And they can call it by whatever name they want because they are not the government. They could also sell only products emblazioned with the face of the Pope if they wanted, although that would be bad for business.
And despite what some people think, there are people in this country who might have other holidays to celebrate at this time of year. And they may go to the store and buy things.
This whole angry mess is just another example of "Your very existence is hurting my beliefs/self-worth."*

*For examples see "Gay marriage degrades my marriage" and "Evolution makes me feel like people aren't special anymore"

The last one justs begs for a retort: "Well, except for your classes, you were never special anyway."

 

[Tressa]

Worked over again (this is the version I just sent as my reply):


T’was the Month of December

T’was the month of December and all through the land
people were marching to the sound of their own band.

There was a song of happiness as many holidays were coming,
each as splendidly individual as a child’s heart pumping.

In public places there were no decorations of One Way
for all were welcome openly on any given day.

Through the air rode greetings from multiple choices,
rejoicing in this, our society of many voices.

No matter what your reason for cheer
all are on equal ground here.

Thanks to our First Amendment
there is no cause for resentment:

no matter your type of gathering at Solstice,
no one jubilee is put in front or on notice.

There are some who feel, if their selection is not first,
their faith is attacked and they think the worst.

Ignoring their god was not actually born at this time,
they feel it is only their moment to make merry and rhyme.

They seem to forget the history of theocracy
and how it can turn freedom into mockery.

Perhaps they should stop being rowdy
and celebrate in some place like Saudi;

then they will see it would be an ugly fate
if there was no wall between church and state.

For those of us with an open heart and an enlightened mind;
we’ll delve through our options, and our own beliefs we’ll find.

To celebrate or not is a decision we each make;
a triumph we should never consider a mistake.

So regardless of our holiday greeting, let us all be hand in hand
for the freedom to choose is the only thing on which to take a stand.