I have talked about the ghosts of Christmas past and the ghosts of Christmas present and still am a little anxious about the ghosts of Christmas future. But let's get back to the ghosts of Christmas present.
I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas! If you are Jewish, Happy Hanukkah! If you are African-American Happy Kwanzaa! If you are Hindu, Happy Pancha Ganapti! I wish that whatever celebration you celebrate this year is full of the customs and traditions you have grown up with and make your culture unique and something you identify with.
I don't want to take your traditions, they are important to you and part of what makes your culture unique and part of the great American melting pot. But I want to celebrate my customs and traditions and that is the celebration of Christmas. In our politically correct society, (note to reader: look up word 'oxymoron' here), every attempt is made to sterilize and assimilate every one into individual Stepford wives and husbands. The very traditions and cornerstones of what made America what it is are being forgotten.
I am quite sure that the celebrations of Cinco De Mayo are much more grand in Mexico than the ones they have for Independence Day, as it should be. If I moved there and demanded equal billing for the Fourth of July it would fall on deaf ears. They are celebrating what made Mexico...Mexico! When visiting a restaurant in Japan, the patron must remove his shoes before entering. They don't cast aside their way of living just because I want to wear my new Air Jordan's! They would politely tell me to do it their way or find a McDonald's. I was slightly jealous at this time of year when my Jewish friends had 8 days of gift giving. But there was one big difference - I didn't cry at the injustice and inequality of their traditions!
America was built on "In God We Trust" but was careful in crafting religious freedom into our Constitutional Rights. Kids don't say the Pledge of Allegiance in school at the risk of hurting someone's feelings by mentioning "under God." In our ability to bring everyone together we are succeeding in creating great rifts and separation. Our politically correct posture is slowly eating away at being American in America. Soon the only things held dearly by Americans will be Walmart, Starbucks and iPOD! We wonder why America is having an identity crisis while taking everything American out of America!
The pride I have for this country runs deep. I served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for 1 year after 911. In our attempt to please everyone we are letting the inmates run the asylum. Big Brother should just come in and finish the job! When we use our phones to call a business we should hear a plea from the other end, "Press 1 for Spanish, 2 for Italian, 3 for Vietnamese, 4 for French and so on and so on. They should redo our coins into large half-dollar like creations mentioning "we trust" followed by a laundry list of deities! The National Anthem should be banned. Believe me, it's coming. When I try to satisfy everyone I only end up frustrating everyone.
When my ancestors came to America from Ireland via Canada, they cherished the American ways and ALSO embraced the traditions of the Irish. The same can be said of the Italians, the Germans and the African Americans, blah-blah-blah! Let's just start a "world bank like" set of beliefs and turn everyone in the world into neatly quaffed lemmings running through the maze of the earth. No identity is right for all! Right?
I'm not an apologist. This is Christmas. It's the day of our Lord. We already built the Santa guy into the day just in case you aren't a Christian. That's enough! Merry Christmas, No, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope your holiday is happy and that GOD fills your new year with many blessings!
No comments:
Post a Comment