It's getting cold, the calendar is showing the new millennium is upon us, and people are getting ready for holidays. In my home, it's Christmas time.
For my children, as well as other children in the nation's public schools, they will have Winter break, Winter plays, and learning about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and other festivals. Back when I was in school, eons ago, it seems, I had Christmas break, Christmas plays, and learned about Christmas. I heard about Hanukkah from a few Jewish kids in class - something about lighting a series of candles but I didn't know much about the occasion.
Times have changed, and so has the principle of free speech, or so it seems. When I was a child, it was permissible to use the word Christmas. It was allowed for students to speak of the holiday, and yes, even talk about the birth of the baby Jesus - you know, the real reason for the season. My children, however, have grown up under laws and school rules that forbid any talk about the Christian savior. Talk about Buddha, Mohammed, and other pagan deities is permissible, and encouraged, it seems, while any talk about the Christian religion, however, is outlawed - very similar to treatment of Christians in China, as well as in the former Soviet Union.
Am I bashing Muslims, Buddhists, or others? Nah. I'm just making the point that the God many in this nation, in fact, the God that was worshipped by the founding fathers of this nation, is now held in contempt. The God of our forefathers now holds almost the same place that communism and communists held under McCarthyism.
As I finish preparations for the holiday season, looking over the stack of presents, the assorted rolls of gift wrap, the chocolates and other candies in the dishes on the tables, and the aroma from the variety of cookies being baked, I think about the season.
In today's society, there isn't much to see, at least at first sight, that reminds you of the season. Sure, all the department stores have had signs, sales, and decorations up for at least a month - and in some of the stores, since before Halloween.
I watch and read the news daily. People are hateful, mean, cruel, and savage. In South Carolina a few weeks ago, a Marine recruiter took his kids out of school early one day and savagely killed them. The reason he listed for taking the children out of school early that was "to pay back their mother." Uh huh.
To me, Christmas isn't about presents. It isn't about cookies, candies, and singing. It's about a little baby, born in a manger about 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. The Christmas season, to me, is about the hope offered by the Christ child as he grew up and died for the sins of the world. The season is about hope, joy, and love.
I look around, hoping to find some glimmer of hope that compassion for fellow citizens is alive in the world. The other day I read a story about a Philadelphia cop who potentially risked his health and career to donate a kidney to his cousin. I also read, about a week ago, a news story about a man who died and left a donation to a school district. Sure, I've read other news accounts from various parts of the country and from around the world and find glimmers of hope that love's still an active element of the human species.
Sure, I'm sentimental. I have hope, faith, compassion, and love. I'm not the gruff, mean, callous jerk I portray myself to be. Under the gruff exterior, I'm just a guy who often has too many feelings for his own sake, or so it seems, at times. I'm also a father, so the hope, faith, compassion, and love are not lost on me. In fact, they help me be a better father. I'm also engaged to a terrific lady, and these qualities also will help to make me be a better husband.
As the song says, "Although it's been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you." In my home, we will be keeping Christ alive in Christmas - this year, as in years past, and those yet to come.
So, as you sit around with family and friends on December 25, I encourage you to think about the reasons for joy, happiness, and love you feel this season. Sure, the date is only symbolic, but it's the date used to celebrate the birth of Christ, who to me is the reason for the season.
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"The
Reason for the Season"
