In society’s quest for complete and total neutrality we have forgotten ourselves. This all started long ago with the complete and utter deterioration of “common sense”. I have been told tales of when this concept of “common sense” was taught as a basic tenant in nearly every house. Now it is all but left out of the education of our children within our own homes (and it certainly isn’t taught in school). Instead we have replaced it with politically correctness. Frankly, I find this disconcerting. It used to be, and in my circle of friends still is, that if someone wished you a good day – no matter the language – you returned the wish and simply understood that they are wishing you well. Now that we have removed common sense in favor of the P.C. this is no longer the case. You can’t wish someone a Merry Christmas. No, you instead, must say Happy Holidays lest you offend someone by not knowing their religion. Now I can’t speak for everyone but I have NEVER met a person of another religion that was offended by me saying “Merry Christmas” to them. They simply understand that I am wishing them well. You wouldn’t get offended if someone called you from California and said “good morning” when it was noon your time, would you? If a Jew walked up to me and said “Happy Hanukkah” I wouldn’t be offended in the least. I would know that this person is wishing me well. Use common sense, folks. You can’t tell someone’s religion just at a glance. If you can’t do that, chances are high that neither can the person greeting you. So if someone is greeting you with Happy Kwanzaa and you are a Christian.. simply return the greeting and know that the person is wishing you well. We should NOT have to loose personal identity to satisfy some ridiculously futile quest to never offend anyone. Instead I propose that everyone grow a thicker skin and try applying some common sense. I should not have to tailor my greetings to something offensively neutral to appease people that I don’t know… and neither should they.
Personally, I make it a point to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone. Management in my office was constantly using “Happy Holidays” yesterday (they say this while wearing Santa hats and standing near a Christmas Tree – go figure), naturally I respond with “Merry Christmas”. They didn’t get it… It has been so ingrained into society that Happy Holidays is now the norm and a habit. I find it sickening and offensive that people so readily have given up personal identity in favor of politically correctness, instead of apply basic common sense. We can change this, though. We can shed the chains of oppressive politically correctness. It is quite simple really, all you have to do is be yourself. Be yourself, and let others be themselves. If you’re an atheist and someone wishes you “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Hanukkah”, “Happy Kwanzaa”, or even “Happy Festivus”, simply reply in kind or say “Have a nice day”. The same should be applied to anyone that is greeted with a seasonal greeting of another religious persuasion. Me? I tend to reply in kind. The choice is yours. What is important is that we all simply reclaim our identities and apply common sense.
I guess that I can summarize all of this into one all important sentence: “Screw being Politically Correct.”
Regnat Populus 