Another link in the blog chain...
The Absolute Write Blog Chain # 13
Kate talked about how having a dog is better than having children. I'm not really a dog person, but more a cat person. To each their own, I suppose.
Which brings me to my own post for the chain.
My mother-in-law is a media-specialist (librarian) at an elementary school. She attended my son's Kindergarten Holiday concert last Thursday night. I met her in the lobby of the school when she arrived. She looked around at the Christmas tree, the huge cardboard Candy Canes suspended from the ceiling and said, "I'm so jealous."
She went on to explain that at her school, Christmas has been banned. No one says "Merry Christmas!" - they say Happy Holidays. There are no Chistmas trees, no angels, nothing. They're not even having a holiday concert. She said, "It's as if they're trying to eradicate anything that isn't politically correct."
This made me feel sad. I am all for cultural diversity, and respecting someone else's beliefs. But, in ignoring life long cultural traditions, doesn't that nullify cultural diversity. If we don't talk about and express ourselves through traditions, it would seem to me that learning about other people comes to a very abrupt end.
As my dad used to say, "If everybody was the same, the world would be an insufferably boring place."
So...
Merry Christmas!
Happy Chanukah!
Happy Kwanzaa!
Happy Yule!
The chain continues with Random Acts of Unkindness.
A Thoughtful Life
Gillian's Food History
Getting Confused and Coming All Undone
Life in the Middle
So You Want to be a Chic Chick
Williebee
Twisted Fantasies
It Had To Be Said
Finding Boddie
Virtual Wordsmith
Random Acts of Unkindness
Chocolate for Your Brain
Virginia Lee: I Ain't Dead Yet!
awchain
4 comments:
You know, I think it is great to be open and accepting of cultural differences. But.. I think some people go overboard. I celebrate Christmas, but I have absolutely no problem seeing a Menorah, or a Kwanza display, or even a pagan symbol represented. Why do people think that just by having a Christmas tree displayed that they are going to offend others? It seems to me that the school should have been more proactive in celebrating diversity. Have the children from other cultures add to the holiday celebration display with symbols or traditions from their faith.
In my daughter's school, they spend the entire month of December looking into other traditions. They learned a bit about Chanukah and Kwanzaa and about the different regions that celebrate some form of Christmas. To make matters more interesting, there is a Jehovah's witness boy in her class (who doesn't celebrate any of the above). They didn't take away the holiday fun just because he didn't celebrate. They found other things for him to do when the subject matter of the class went against his religious beliefs. They accommodated him, but didn't let his belief's take away the fun for the rest of the students. Handled very well... I must say.
Great post!
and Happy Solstice! Great post!
I think people need to lighten up when it comes to political correctness. God forbid someone says something that they don't want to hear and makes a stink about it. There's such a thing as accomodating and then there's ridiculous and what political correctness has come to is just plain ridiculous.
PC people need to learn that there is a difference between inclusion and exclusion. Christmas is fine, as long as you don't force your non-Christians to celebrate it (keep it optional) and ask long as you celebrate the festivals of the minorities as well. Non-PC people need to learn this difference too.
In other words, it's not a question of what festivals are celebrated or what wishes are given. It's how it's all done and whether anyone has been hurt or excluded. I guess it's the difference between Political Correctness and genuine sensitivity.
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