And Why That’s Important
No, this is not a “War on Christmas” diatribe. This is a reminder that Christmas is a National Holiday in the United States and many other nations. President Grant made it so the same year (1870) Thanksgiving and Washington’s Birthday became federal holidays. It was seen as a means of healing a nation. Many U.S. states set Christmas as a holiday and so the Grant administration–only five years after accepting the South’s surrender at Appomattox–made an effort at unification by taking national recognition of dates important to the nation as a whole.
Christmas is a time of forgiveness and reconciliation. Right now, it must be. Even those living outside the U.S.A. must see it. The world is in dire need of a healing, of a pause in hostilities to actually look each other in the eye and see the human being across from us. Social media gives us a blank canvass and a blindfolded audience on which to unleash our anger, frustration, and perceived persecutions. I beg you, for the sake of Christmas and the world, take December 25th off. See it as a challenge or a dare or a request, whichever works for you, just take one day to see people as people with their own hopes, dreams, flaws, and strengths. Stop shouting over the internet and start talking over coffee (or egg nog, since it’s Christmas).
Merry Christmas is a phrase wishing someone else…one day of serenity.
Make Christmas personal. Use the day to reach out to someone you haven’t spoken with in a while. Comfort a friend. Befriend someone to whom you hold a grudge. Let go of your hate for some public figure you’ve never even seen in public.
Merry Christmas is a phrase wishing someone else, someone you know well or some total stranger, one day of serenity. It doesn’t have to refer to the Christian remembrance of the Messiah’s birth or the connection to ancient winter solstice celebrations. Merry Christmas means I wish you–and all the world you touch–the very best, even if only for one day.
So, Merry Christmas.
And I mean it.
