By Trish Allison
As one Christmas classic would have you to believe, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. But lately the holiday season is becoming less joyous and more hassle than merry with all the limitations being set out when it comes to decorating and sharing Christmas greetings. Across the province, the country and even various places around the world, Christmas and its affiliations are being prohibited from schools, businesses and the English language.
Bus drivers for Tri-Board Student Transportation Services Inc. were told driving school busses with seasonal decorations inside or out would not be permitted anywhere Tri-Board is contracted to drive. But it’s not just the Belleville and Quinte West area that’s experiencing Grinch-like sentiments.
For as long as any Hamiltonian could remember, the city’s escarpment hosted a festive Merry Christmas sign similar to the infamous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, that is until the city decided it was Happy Holidays or nothing, so nothing it was.
Schools in Fort Worth, Texas, have banned Santa from their hallways, completely removing Christmas from classrooms.
A columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press writes:
“Wish someone a ‘merry Christmas’ and you may irk a devout non-Christian. But a generic ‘happy holiday’ greeting maybe equally annoying, as some Canadians who celebrate Christmas may be saddened to see it watered down”
Watered down is an understatement.
Due to political correctness and respect for other cultures the word Christmas has become as profane as dropping the F bomb in casual conversation. In an effort to appease a variety of ethnic and religious groups the spirit has been lost and those actually being offend are the ones who’ve celebrated the season for centuries.
For a country that prides itself on multiculturalism and openly understanding communities, we sure lack the ability to understand that religious people are not the only ones to make this country home.
Many in the fight to remove the word Christmas in our society are fixated on the idea that Christmas is soley a celebration of Christ and his birth. But Christmas is not just about religion anymore; to different sects it means different things. But for most, the underlying meaning of Christmas is to give and share, spending time with family and friends. For kids it’s about waking up Christmas morning to find the treasures Santa has left for them under their family tree.
Take a drive down a suburban neighbourhood and you’ll see inflatable Santas and lit-up snowpersons (for the sake of political correctness gender specifications will not be allotted to inanimate objects), not oversized Christ figurines or enormous crosses (unless you’ve stumbled upon a nativity scene).
Christmas has changed from a strictly secular day to something everyone looks forward to at the start of the calendar year and instead of casting it away like an infectious disease, others should open theirs minds and understand that Christmas is as common in Canadian society as Monday is to the start of the week.
If we are deeming it unacceptable based on religious aspects, then Halloween, St. Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter should be as equally offensive. Yet, society doesn’t have a problem celebrating the death and re-incarnation of Christ or a romantic day named after Christian martyrs. We preach to our children that they need to be accepting and understanding of the different religions and cultures that share this land, yet the example we’re setting contradicts everything this country stands for.
At this point, being offensive is the least of concerns. Families immigrate to Canada because they see freedoms that may not be offered everywhere else, however, what’s being demonstrated this holiday season is a censored version of what we’re given by the Charter. As a country that says we have the ability to do what we want (within reason), we are being shown a side that is not publicized in tourist ads. As others come and gain freedoms, many lose their’s. We cannot claim to be a free country if we’re limiting who and what the people can express.
We’re not going to change simply because what we do and how we live our lives supposedly offends the Canadian minority.
Plain and simple, this is how we’ve done it and how we’ll continue to do so for many years to come.
So Merry Christmas to you and yours.