When I greet family this December, I say Merry Christmas. When I greet friends of the Jewish faith, I say Happy Hanukah. When I am at work or greeting someone that I don't know, I say Happy Holidays.
My family reached these shores in search of religious freedom. Imagine leaving all that you've known, the people you love to face an uncertain future in a land that you have never been to. In their time, even arriving here wasn't certain. Three months on the ocean in a crowded ship with the obvious dangers of the sea as well as dysentery and starvation. Not all the travelers made it and were cast over the side, buried at sea. Of the brothers and their families that made the journey, the survivors had to experience this most inglorious loss of at least one of their loved ones on their way to their new home.
On one side of my family the year was 1760, on the other it was 1742. They were Lutherans.
Jump ahead to the 2000's. I am working in a store alongside a doctor who is grateful to be working as a clerk in the United States. He was unable to work at all in his homeland because religious discrimination is a perfectly acceptable practice there. It seemed to me that he was always fasting or engaged in some sort of religious practice. I asked him about it once. His response, "I fast because it is to remind me to be grateful for what I have and to allow me to experience what those who don't have experience so that I might be more generous to others."
That is such a wonderful explanation. I wonder how many of us know why we don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent or engage in other behaviors other than that they are dictated by our church.
I am incredibly grateful to my ancestors who came here and who fought to help create these United States. For 240 years my family has enjoyed the freedoms that our country offers. That's a lot of wars, a lot of presidents, a lot of change, and yet I can experience my holidays without fear. Not so my doctor friend in the land of his birth.
You see, he is a Coptic Christian. He grew up in a church that still reads the Bible in its original language. A church that is today facing extreme danger in Egypt.
I do not say Happy Holidays because I am afraid that I'll offend someone. I am not trying to take the Christ out of Christmas. I am showing respect for my ancestors and for the ideals that this country was founded on. Also, I truly wish for the happiness and peace for all peoples without regard to which holiday they observe.
Happy Holidays to all!!!
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