Imagine a classroom where at snack time 5 children sit at a table and the teacher brings out 10 cookies. Three of the children get 3 cookies each and the other two split one. Over time the 2 children who had to share that single cookie are getting a cookie each and there is talk that one day get 2 whole cookies. The children who used to get 3 cookies each are angry and saying that the other children are changing the way things have been done and it is not fair that they have to give something up. This is what I see our American culture like today.
As the Christmas season is ending for most, we once again were exposed to a lie that somehow since the current President was elected people are free to say Merry Christmas. To be clear saying that phrase has never been banned by anyone in government nor has there been any real attempt to eliminate it from our language. A few retail companies did start using Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings in ads and for employees when speaking to customers they didn't know. But from the halls of Congress and the White House the phrase Merry Christmas was a common greeting every December for as long as I can remember. But there have been more and more communities that have begun to acknowledge, either by legal decree or growing awareness, that they are more diverse than just Christians. The changing of forcing children, for example, at school programs to attend events with Santa or sing songs about the birth of Jesus when that is not their faith tradition has been met with anger in some circles. Like the kids who lost their cookie advantage there are some suggesting that their Christmas is ruined. When in fact that there is nothing ruined. Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year. There is no lack of Christmas opportunity for people around the country. But the very inclusion of other traditions in that space has been almost exclusively Christmas has some people riled up. Without a thought of what it must be like for a child who doesn't celebrate Christmas forced to either spend class time learning Christmas music and visiting with Santa or having to sit in the office these people feel that their children are being cheated. This sense of privilege is a problem that many in government are now promoting by repeating the lies of the President.
Religion is only one arena where this privilege but one that we have seen take the forefront. A recent viral video of a woman, standing in front of a mosque in Brooklyn, saying "this is Brooklyn" astonished that she can hear the call to prayer. The fairly quiet broadcast to the neighborhood (compared to some I have heard in some places) did not seem to have a rejection from most of the people walking down the street, but for her it was somehow a problem. This feeds the old creeping Sharia nonsense. Muslims have been part of our country since before we were a country. But demonizing their existence is part of a bigger picture. While church bells can be heard for miles why can't the few minutes a day of a call to prayer can be broadcast? Because it makes some people uncomfortable.
This problem is growing in our country. Some people don't want to make room for others to join the table and get the cookies. This has been part of our country's history. We had grown past it I thought. But today I am in shock, after several attacks of Jews in the New York City area in recent weeks after a couple of years of murders in synagogues in Pittsburgh and San Diego and Los Angeles and and and a man walked into a house of a rabbi and stabbed several people. This is a form of terrorism that is intended, by all accounts, to force Jews out of the public eye. Maybe even out of a community. That is a serious issue and if we keep saying that the kinds of things coming from members of the right wing this will get worse.
Diversity is our strength. We can't marginalize groups because some feel they are losing their seat of supremacy. We need to learn to share and add to our great American culture. It is a deep seated value we have had from the beginning. We may not have always lived up to that standard but we can't stop trying. Everyone should have access to the cookies.
As the Christmas season is ending for most, we once again were exposed to a lie that somehow since the current President was elected people are free to say Merry Christmas. To be clear saying that phrase has never been banned by anyone in government nor has there been any real attempt to eliminate it from our language. A few retail companies did start using Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings in ads and for employees when speaking to customers they didn't know. But from the halls of Congress and the White House the phrase Merry Christmas was a common greeting every December for as long as I can remember. But there have been more and more communities that have begun to acknowledge, either by legal decree or growing awareness, that they are more diverse than just Christians. The changing of forcing children, for example, at school programs to attend events with Santa or sing songs about the birth of Jesus when that is not their faith tradition has been met with anger in some circles. Like the kids who lost their cookie advantage there are some suggesting that their Christmas is ruined. When in fact that there is nothing ruined. Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year. There is no lack of Christmas opportunity for people around the country. But the very inclusion of other traditions in that space has been almost exclusively Christmas has some people riled up. Without a thought of what it must be like for a child who doesn't celebrate Christmas forced to either spend class time learning Christmas music and visiting with Santa or having to sit in the office these people feel that their children are being cheated. This sense of privilege is a problem that many in government are now promoting by repeating the lies of the President.
Religion is only one arena where this privilege but one that we have seen take the forefront. A recent viral video of a woman, standing in front of a mosque in Brooklyn, saying "this is Brooklyn" astonished that she can hear the call to prayer. The fairly quiet broadcast to the neighborhood (compared to some I have heard in some places) did not seem to have a rejection from most of the people walking down the street, but for her it was somehow a problem. This feeds the old creeping Sharia nonsense. Muslims have been part of our country since before we were a country. But demonizing their existence is part of a bigger picture. While church bells can be heard for miles why can't the few minutes a day of a call to prayer can be broadcast? Because it makes some people uncomfortable.
This problem is growing in our country. Some people don't want to make room for others to join the table and get the cookies. This has been part of our country's history. We had grown past it I thought. But today I am in shock, after several attacks of Jews in the New York City area in recent weeks after a couple of years of murders in synagogues in Pittsburgh and San Diego and Los Angeles and and and a man walked into a house of a rabbi and stabbed several people. This is a form of terrorism that is intended, by all accounts, to force Jews out of the public eye. Maybe even out of a community. That is a serious issue and if we keep saying that the kinds of things coming from members of the right wing this will get worse.
Diversity is our strength. We can't marginalize groups because some feel they are losing their seat of supremacy. We need to learn to share and add to our great American culture. It is a deep seated value we have had from the beginning. We may not have always lived up to that standard but we can't stop trying. Everyone should have access to the cookies.
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