Mass of Contradictions

One of the reasons I love the holiday season stems from my enjoyment of contradiction. No matter your faith or culture, this time of year is replete with dichotomies great and small. There's nothing quite like watching the look of pure joy on a child's face when they see Santa Claus in a shopping mall...transforming into sheer terror as that same child is placed on the aforementioned elderly gentleman's knee.

The holidays themselves, of course, are conceived in contradiction. Christmas celebrates the birth of the Saviour of mankind...who for all his power and parentage first entered the world amidst sleeping farm animals. Hanukkah memorializes the re-dedication of the second temple in Jerusalem, where despite the auspiciousness of the occasion there was only enough oil to light the eternal flame for one day...except that this same oil managed to last eight. Ramadan brings practitioners closer to God through fasting and abstinence...giving things up in order to gain something even greater.

And, of course, we musn't forget the greatest contradiction of all. As our wise and learned politicians/pundits never fail to remind us, the holiday season (a time when all religions of the world celebrate their own versions of peace and joy) is the perfect time to fight amongst one other.

Yes, the halls are decked and the trees are trimmed and it's time for this year's installment of the highly-televised 'War On Christmas' newscasts. In fact, it's not only highly televised...television is the one and only location of this media-doctored winterly bitch-fest that returns with the inevitability and popularity of frostbite. Just in case you were wondering, here's a breakdown...

Everybody hates Christians. That's the premise. It's mostly because of that whole 1500 years of post-Roman-Empire "persecution of other faiths" thing. So now, in a petty act of revenge, the remaining religions of the world (friends and allies all) have deliberately manufactured a global mindset that every Christmas-related exigence, from a model stable to a warm salutation, is actually a thinly-veiled attempt to return to the "good old days" of Inquisitions and Boncentration Bamps.

Fortunately, we have the good people of TV-land to stand up for us, ensuring that no assault on our beloved holiday can go unpunished. Which only begs the question, who exactly is doing the assaulting? My family celebrates Christmas every year, the way our neighbours celebrate Hanukkah. Being in Toronto, I am sure there are multiple families within walking distance of our house who also recognize Ramadan, Kwanzaa and who-knows-what-else. Funny thing...twenty-seven years in this neighbourhood and we have yet to conflict with any of them. Call me naive, but I bet this year will pass by just as smoothly.

Fact is, the 'War on Christmas' is itself born of contradiction. It's as old as the holiday itself. Let's listen in on a conversation from, oh, let's say Christmas the first...

"So what does the star mean?"
"It means our Saviour is born, King Herod."
"You mean the one from the Scriptures? The one all Jews, myself included, have been awaiting since the time of Abraham? The one who will free us from captivity and lead us to the Promised Land?"
"Yes, King Herod."
"So what does that mean for me?"
"Well, sire...I suppose, with the Son of God in our midst, there will be no need for earthly rulers any longer."
"So I won't be king?"
"Well...no, I guess not."
"No, that's no good. We'll have to kill him."
"Uh...we don't know where he is."
"Then kill ALL the babies in the surrounding area, just to be safe. That'll teach God to try and bring eternal peace to mankind!"

Fast-forward two thousand years. For eleven months, the TV-people give us reason to fear. In the world there is war, there is genocide, there is violence, there is hatred. We must fear our neighbour and defend ourselves against him. We must give absolute power to our rulers, that they might "protect" us from these faceless foreign foes.

Then comes December, the annual period of "oh, wait, remember how God said he wanted us all to love each other?". Every religion's winter holiday revolves around that same theme. And the leaders begin to s*** themselves, because a population that loves one another no longer fears, and people without fear no longer need kings. So the kings find it necessary to remind us that even in this most blessed and joyful time of year, there is still a reason to keep the fires of hatred alive in our minds.

But there isn't. It's a stupid concept and a blatant corruption of what Christmas is supposed to be about. The only upside is that most normal people (read: non-televised) don't ever seem to pay much attention to it.

So what if a store chooses to market cross-culturally? That's a business decision, not a moral one. Not having Christmas-specific signage is a way of saying: "We want ALL faiths to shop here." Of course, if you're the type who takes offense at that concept, it's certainly not unheard of. Wasn't too long ago that we not only segregated our stores, but our water fountains and our schools as well.

"Happy Holidays" does not mean "I hate Christmas". It actually means "I have no idea what your faith is. I'm not going to assume that you're Muslim just because your skin is dark, or that you're Jewish because you have a substantial nose, or that you're Christian because...well, let's face it, you're buying a gift in December, odds are it's for Christmas. But I don't know, and I don't want to get it wrong, so I'm just going to play it safe and wish you general peace and happiness."

Which brings us right back to the whole POINT of the season in the first place...bringing people of different backgrounds together in harmony. Maybe, rather than accentuating the differences between our holidays, we should be FOLLOWING this lead and concentrating on what makes them similar. We might find there are fewer contradictions than we expected.