Christmas should be celebrated, not downplayed

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

To the Editor:

Is there a lost and found department where one could go to search for common sense that has wandered off? Is there any way that millions of our fellow citizens can retrieve the basic intelligence that they once had as children but now is no longer in their grasp?

I’m talking about those confused people who can’t really connect the holiday of Christmas with being the main theme of the Christmas season. This is December. The big event this month is Christmas. So why are these fuddleheads walking around referring to some vague “Happy holidays”? Which holidays are they talking about? With more than 30 holidays officially recognized for this month, I narrowed the list down to a few days that these poor, confused souls might be referring to, such as National Flashlight Day. This would be appropriate for those who seem to be wandering in the darkness.

There is also National Fritter Day. Again, this could be important for those who can’t determine how to start their day and so twiddle away their time.

We also have National Whiners Days. I’m sure that there’s a strong connection here for those people who don’t see the privilege of living in our great country. These could be the sources of their dilemma; but, I think that the real reason is a little more complicated than that.

These people are apologists. It’s their way of saying that we don’t want to focus all this attention on Jesus Christ for fear that we are angering other groups whose main theme isn’t celebrated so enthusiastically. Therefore, they downplay and disparage Christmas.

Seventy years ago, the average level of education was the eighth grade, but, as an unarmed country in 1941, we managed to win World War II. I doubt if we could pull that off today, even though our average education level is the 12th grade with 25 percent of our high school graduates going on to receive four years of college.

Although we are now less ignorant, we seem to have grown dumber in terms of lacking common sense.

Well, at the risk of irking those who delight in practicing this holiday ambiguity, I say Merry Christmas!

FRANK COSTA

Milford