It's Christmas time

I realize Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but I have been ruminating much on Christmas this year.  I have a master plan for decorating the store (I have always thought that being a professional Christmas tree decorator would be a really cool job), and a specific message I want to send with it.  In short, I want to bring back the old-fashioned type of Christmas that is no longer "pc".  I am going to decorate the shop with Christmas decorations, and I am going to say "Merry Christmas" to my customers.

One of my favorite movies, Christmas or otherwise, is "It's a Wonderful Life".  IAWL teaches a wonderful message - no one is a failure who has friends.  It illustrates values that are sadly absent in today's society.  People nowadays feel they have to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", lest they offend someone.  Who, exactly, will be offended?  Only 0.7% of the country consider themselves atheists, so I see no reason why the 76% who consider themselves Christians should worry about the atheists' delicate sensibilities.  Not one of my Jewish friends are offended by "Merry Christmas", nor am I offended by "Happy Hanukah".  Wasn't the whole point of this country freedom of religion?  Not being allowed to express yourself isn't exactly freedom.

Even if someone is offended by hearing "Merry Christmas" - so what?  There is no Constitutional guarantee to never be offended.  A year or two ago in the southeastern part of the country a man went to a high school football game.  He had no children in the school district, he just liked football.  When the cheerleaders held up motivational signs quoting from the Bible - a tradition at the school going back decades - this man threatened to file a lawsuit against the school.  Shockingly enough, the school board gave in and stopped the practice of quoting the Bible at games.  This is not a separation of church and state issue.  This is an example of "political  correctness" run totally amok.  It is absurd that the traditions and beliefs of a nation should be censored by the opinions of a miniscule minority.

At the last River Park Merchant's Association meeting it was said that stores should be decorated with a "winter festival" theme, lest someone be offended.  This offended me, so I went on-line looking for a lighted sign that reads "Merry Christmas".  It took half an hour to find any place that sells such a sign.  Even an on-line store that calls itself "christmaslights.com" didn't have a single item that reads "Merry Christmas"!  This whole "pc" thing is beyond out of control.

So this year I encourage all of you to take back our traditions and say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukah", and to blazes with political correctness.