What is it about religion and politics that brings out the ignorance in people, especially around the holidays? An acquaintance of mine posted a rant on Facebook regarding some of her friends posting that President Obama put up Holiday trees in the White House. She is offended that they are being referred to as holiday trees rather than Christmas trees and is placing the blame on the President. I haven't seen any of the posts she is referring to; however, I think it is unfair to blame the President for what other people describe the trees in his house as. Regardless, we live in a "politically correct" age, and holiday tree would be the PC term. I'm not a history buff, but I'm pretty sure part of the reason our country was founded was so that our people could practice freedom of religion. America is a melting pot; not everyone shares the same beliefs. Why do people have such a difficult time accepting the fact that not everyone is going to share their beliefs? I don't care what you believe so long as you don't use your "beliefs" as an excuse to be ignorant of others.
So, my response to her post was, “The wonderful thing about our country is that we have freedom of religion. Not everyone is forced to believe the same thing.” To which she responded, "Then why celebrate it? It is CHRIST birthday. It wouldn't even be a holiday if it wasn't for him!!!" I'm not quite sure how to answer that. To many people, yes, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, but the holiday has evolved into so much more than that. It's a time to send cards to friends and family that you may not always be in touch with. It's a time to make your child's dreams come true. It's a time to reflect on the past year and all that was accomplished. It's a time to eat cookies and enjoy a break from our every day lives. And, apparently, it's also a time for people to judge others based on what they may or may not believe, which is unfortunate.
I truly hope that everyone reading this has a wonderful holiday season, regardless of what you may be celebrating. We all deserve a break from the norm to celebrate what is important to us. ♥
1 comments:
I totally agree with you. I really dislike when people blame the president for silly things like this, when it really has nothing to do with him specifically. And this whole issue of holiday trees is ridiculous. Like you said, we have many religions in this country and not everyone celebrates Christmas in December.
(On a side note, I doubt he was even there to see the "holiday trees" put up. If people listen to the news, they'd know he's been traveling a lot lately.)
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