Thinking about the Holidays?

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Multiculturalism must include all

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Did you have any trouble looking for Christmas cards this year? Must all of them have "Seasons Greetings" printed on them?

And it doesn't end there. You enter a shop and you already know that the greeter has been trained not to say Merry Christmas, but you want him to.

Really, it's okay.

Go ahead, say it.

``Happy (insert secular, bland, politically correct greeting here).''

Let's cautiously mumble seasonal greetings so that your rights won't be violated, just in case one of us doesn't celebrate Christmas, worship a greater power or believe in Santa Claus.

If you work in a government job, were you spending your lunch hour downloading clip art? Ah yes, that ubiquitous snowman — I mean snowperson — for the office memo.

Work in the school system? I challenge you to find one Merry Christmas banner hanging in the main foyer.

Please. I entreat you to just call this holiday what it is: Christmas.

Somewhere along the way, Merry Christmas has taken on insidious overtones of religious exclusion or intolerance. What will be next? Should telling someone to have a nice day be forgone since we live in a world wrought with conflict and injustice?

Those icicle lights permanently strapped to my neighbour's house aren't "holiday lights." They're Christmas lights. The homemade wreath on my door is a far cry from Martha Stewart-perfection, but it's my Christmas wreath, not a holiday wreath. Those carols that this paper prints for your enjoyment? Yes, they're Christmas carols.

Try looking for a school Christmas concert to attend and you will be met with, "Oh, you mean the Holiday Concert."

Precisely when did Christmas stop being Christmas? With the advent of consumerism over spiritualism? With the ever-increasing wealth within the Greater Toronto Area?

Torontonians are living through a very unusual social phenomenon. Few places in the world exist where you can safely circle the globe just by touring the city's neighbourhoods.

We are a multi-ethnic, multi-faith city and are richer for that fact. The city's demographics have made Torontonians aware of Diwali, Ramadan, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and Lunar New Year celebrations. We know about the different foods, cultures, languages and religions that define our various neighbourhoods.

All in a city where Catholics and Protestants once co-existed acrimoniously.

But where is the diversity when we ignore Canada's Christian roots for fear that we may offend someone's spiritual sensibilities?

Can you imagine living in an Islamic country where Ramadan gets downplayed so that the occasion may be more acceptable to non-Muslims? So what do you call it instead? The Month-Long Fasting Ritual?

Or that Passover, one of the holiest periods for Jews, be renamed the Unleavened Bread holiday? Does calling Diwali the Bright Light festival promote tolerance to non-Hindus?

Something is terribly amiss when we neuter Christmas so that it is completely devoid of meaning and social context. In an attempt to promote religious tolerance, we have marginalized one of the largest faiths in the country for fear of offending other religious groups.

This isn't cultural sensitivity. If inclusion and respect are the objective, school kids who learn about the Lunar New Year or Chanukah can be taught something about Christmas, too.

Singing "Away In A Manger" or "Silent Night" in elementary school never damaged my own cultural or religious identity.

At no time did I ever feel conflicted about my spiritual beliefs. At no time did my parents intervene because they felt that a Christmas concert was some form of religious indoctrination.

The ideals that one normally associates with Christmas — kindness, charity, and goodwill — are values that we all cherish, regardless of our beliefs.

Non-Christians don't burrow underground on Christmas Day. They're celebrating, too, whether by exchanging gifts, performing acts of charity or sharing a meal with friends and family. Some even look forward to Christmas carols. All aspire for health, happiness, and peace on Earth.

Co-existence in a multi-faith society can be challenging, but never impossible — especially when good sense prevails.

We've become all too aware of what can happen in the world when freedom comes from the end of a gun rather than the tip of a pen. In a spiritual and philosophical context, wishing someone Merry Christmas runs below the radar. But at least I'm entitled to write about it.

And let me say it anyway, with the hope that you understand that it comes with the best of intentions.

Have a Merry Christmas.

No offence intended, okay?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jse-Che Lam is a member of the Star's community editorial board.



-- Just to know? (anywhere@anyplace.com), December 26, 2003

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