Saying “Happy Holidays” is common courtesy

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

To the Editor:

Recently, I noticed on Facebook a sudden deluge of my “friends” venting their concerns about the general public taking the “Christ out of Christmas”. On the heels of this comes Mr. Costa’s letter in the Dec. 15 issue of The Cabinet expressing some of the same concerns, that those of us “whiners” that don’t celebrate Christmas are just angry that our holiday is not getting enough attention.

One of the arguments I’ve heard went so far as to say that any non-Christmas celebrators should “go back where they came from.” Guess what? I am where I came from.

In one way maybe these people are right. Maybe there are less people in this country that don’t celebrate Christmas than do. Does that mean that those people should be discounted? Or, in some people’s opinion as expressed last week, we should suck it up and what, throw away generations of religious teachings just so others don’t have to bother saying “Happy Holidays”?

Please don’t mistake this as a disparagement against anyone’s belief in Christ or the way they choose to celebrate their own holiday. If you want to light up your yard like a movie theater or put a nativity scene on your front lawn I think that’s great. If you want to celebrate quietly sitting in front of your Christmas tree with a cup of cocoa, I think that’s great, too. That, Mr. Costa is the real privilege of living in our great country. We are allowed to have different beliefs and different religions. Just because your holiday is more prevalent doesn’t make it okay for you to ignore the fact that there are other things being celebrated.

Wouldn’t it be silly if I called to wish you a “Happy Birthday” on my birthday because I decided mine was more important than yours and that you didn’t really need that sentiment on your own day? Wouldn’t it be silly if I passed you on the street and wished you a “Happy Hanukkah” because, hey, that’s what I celebrate? Who cares about anyone else, right? Saying “Happy Holidays” to someone shouldn’t be a concession that you make. It isn’t a sacrifice of your religion. The foundation of saying these things is supposed to be a vehicle in which we convey well-wishes to those around us. Common sense in this country hasn’t been lost at all; it’s been expanded to be more inclusive to everyone that lives here, not just the majority. That is common courtesy to those around us.

So when I light my menorah with my family this year (and I don’t mean to celebrate National Flashlight Day or National Fritter Day, I mean to celebrate a holiday that had been celebrated centuries longer than even Christmas and even celebrated by Jesus himself), I will wish you all a “Happy Holiday” season, whichever holiday that might be.

SARAH CHAPPELL

Milford