A Bit of a Christmas Rant

I got a news item in my email the other day from Canoe.ca.  I get them daily, a list of articles that are of importance, headlines, you probably know the type of thing.

Anyhow, one of the articles was to do with a city in Saskatchewan turning down a request to remove “Merry Christmas” from city busses.

So who was the heinous group of terrorists and infidels or those godless types that wanted the Merry Christmas removed from the busses?

One guy.

One guy sent the city a letter complaining that it bothered him, that it was offensive. And it goes out as national news.

Says a lot for our “National News” people doesn’t it?

Lately I’ve seen some signs going up too, on lawns throughout the area. “Christmas is about Christ” is the message. Maybe it used to be.

This seems to be part and parcel of the so called “War on Christmas” we keep hearing about.  Political Correctness run amok. The atheists and the infidels are trying to destroy our way of life!

No.

I’m sure that the non Christians enjoy the time off work, or the premium pay if they get stuck working the Christmas shift and I don’t think it bothers them that people seem to be a bit nicer to each other, even if it is just for a couple of weeks prior to Christmas.  After all, Santa IS watching, isn’t he?

Look, it doesn’t bother me to have someone say Merry Christmas. It doesn’t bother me to have someone say “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” either. It is the Christmas season that I’m being greeted with, holiday is an old word from the combining of “Holy” and “Day”. If these things bother you, get over it.

Maybe it should bother you that the “Christmas Season” starts off with something called “Black Friday”.

Seriously, there has been a War on Christmas, and it has been going on a long time. It is not the non Christians and non Believers you have to worry about, it is the businessmen.

How many of you have read “A Christmas Carol” or at least seen the movies?  Did you even notice that Bob Cratchit has to ASK to have a day off to celebrate Christmas with his family?

Back then, Christmas was a rural holiday. To the industrialists and businessmen it was a bother and a pest, a humbug if you will, to give people time off during the work week for a church holiday. Most of the workers back then were still moving from the countryside to the cities in search of work, and this Christmas day off was just a remnant of country life, nothing to do with the city, and nothing to do with business.

And it is still happening today. This year Wal-Mart tried to get the jump on the competition by starting their Black Friday sales on Thursday evening. Thanksgiving evening. There was a lot of push back, but not nearly enough, Wal-Mart went ahead anyway.

You see Thanksgiving is a big deal in the USA, they even have holiday specials on TV for it. The rants on the news sites were all blown away with comments like “IF you don’t want to work on Holidays, don’t work at Wal-Mart”. Curiously, I’ve never thought of Wal-Mart as a career choice. Even more curiously, if you use that argument about not joining a union they get real cranky, but that’s another rant.

If you think that Wal-Mart and Target and the other big retailers haven’t considered opening on Christmas, you have been asleep. The only reason they close and stay closed for Christmas is that they are scared that the fallout will be too hard to handle for too long.

We’re dealing with people who think God only comes before Greed in the dictionary. The bottom line is the only one that matters. Not you, not your family, only profits.

Do you think Target cares that they ousted thousands of employees when they bought Zellers? Some of these people were working full time (Gasp!), some were making more than minimum wage (Gasp!!!), but that is not the Target way. Here in Chatham, 

they just closed the Zellers up, 9 days before Christmas.

Season’s Greetings from Target! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

If you need to be upset about something, don’t waste your time on “Season’s Greetings” and whatnot, be upset about something that matters…

Like folks who get Christmas dinner at the soup kitchen.

Like people getting their Christmas cooking supplies from a Food Bank or a Salvation Army basket.

Like the kids who’ll only get one toy this Christmas because of a charity like the Good Fellows who made sure that they got one.

These people didn’t ask to be put in this position. Many of these people used to give to these same charities that they now find themselves receiving help from.

Maybe the guy in Saskatchewan is right. Maybe it is offensive to put Merry Christmas on the busses, maybe we should put it somewhere else, like in our hearts.

I hope this Christmas season finds you all well, and I hope that you will be able to enjoy time with your friends and loved ones. Maybe this year we can figure out that the best way to celebrate Christmas is not to be nice for a couple of weeks or a month, but to be nice to each other the whole year round.

Yeah, kind of sappy, but after all, it is Christmas.

 Glædelig jul!  BC

A Christmas Eve, some years ago.

On a winter afternoon some years ago, a young couple set out on a drive.

It was Christmas Eve and the car was loaded with gifts for the family Christmas gathering two hours away. They had called ahead to warn the family they were running behind but that they planned to reach town in time for Christmas dinner.

After a visit with the in laws, they set out on the highway, the sun starting to set behind them.

As the couple drove down the highway everything seemed normal, the radio was tuned to Christmas music and they chatted as they drove. Then the young fellow noticed the car behind them was flashing its headlights. He wondered why but thought little more about it until the temperature light came on.

As they slowed and pulled onto the shoulder they started to see the steam coming from under the hood. Stranded on the side of the highway on Christmas Eve was not a good place to be so they decided to try for the next interchange, there might be help there.

They drove down the shoulder of the highway, watching for the temperature light, hoping they were close to the interchange. Then a sign came into view, the interchange was near and there was a Provincial Police Station on the side road. Finally they had some good news.

On they drove and as they came to the Police Station they saw there were no cars there. The lights were off, there was no one home. The sign on the door explained it was a substation and had regular hours like any business but that there was a phone for emergencies in the entranceway. He called the police and they said they would send someone.

Not knowing what else to do he walked to the house next to the station and knocked on the door. When a man answered, he explained his situation and asked that the man call a tow truck for him. The man asked the young fellow if he wanted to come in but he said no, that he wanted to wait in case the tow truck showed up and that his wife was still with the car but he did thank the man for his kind offer.

Eventually the tow truck came. He opened the hood hoping that it was a small hole in the radiator hose and that he would be able to patch it. As he looked, the man from the house came over to see if he could help. The tow truck driver said no, the hose was too badly damaged and that the car would have to be towed, and it was just a matter of figuring out where to tow it to. The man from the house asked how much hose was needed, the tow truck driver told him, and the man said that he could get some hose and some coolant for the car. He ran a truck supply business and would be back shortly with what was needed.

A while later the man returned with a length of hose and two jugs of coolant which the tow truck driver was able to use to get the car going again. The young fellow offered the man some money for the hose and coolant, which was at first turned down but eventually accepted at the young fellow’s insistence. He wanted to thank the man for his help and the only way he could think of was to at least pay for the parts.

The tow truck driver was paid for his time, it was his business to help and he had to charge for the repair.

The young couple were happy to be safely on their way only making one stop, at a pay phone to let people know the car had broken down but they were back on the road again. They said they would be late, and they would explain when they got there, which they did.

Every year as Christmas approaches I think of this story, how a stranger offered his home to a stranded motorist, how he took time from his family on Christmas Eve to help, how some people have to work on Christmas Eve in case someone becomes stranded on the road, like I was some years ago.

The story is true, and at this time of year it gladdens me that there are still people willing to put the needs of others in front of their own in order to help a stranger on Christmas Eve.

Happy Christmas everyone.