Intolerant Tolerance

Every time I turn on the news today it's blaring how suddenly "Christmas" is taboo. Schools and government buildings are no longer allowed to have Christmas Trees, but they can have "Holiday" trees. Am I an idiot, or is it the same damn tree? Governors don't send out Christmas cards, they send out Holiday cards. There is even a case of a homeowner (I think they owned) being sent a letter demanding that their nativity scene be taken down. (The request was later withdrawn)

I do not understand this. Why Christmas? I have heard of instances of government buildings having symbols of Kwanzaa and Hanukkah in their buildings. They are renamed, they aren't "neutralized". Why does it appear that Christmas is being singled out? Christmas is no longer a religious holiday, but a secular one. Sure, its origins are undenialably Christian, but now days the majority of people who celebrate Christmas are not Christian.

Now I know that separation of church and state is a good thing, I mean, would you really want someone like Clinton or Bush dictating what you believe and how you express it? As for myself, I don't even like my denomination dictating to me what I should believe or how I should act it out. However, year after year, the separation of church and state has been used to push intolerance on us all creating an ironic situation. I as a Christian, or you as a Jew, Muslim, or whatever, are free to worship, or even not worship as I or you see fit. However, progressively it's become that this separation of church and state is meaning that you can worship and believe, but if anyone sees or knows about it, it's the end of the flipping world! This is not tolerance. As a Christian, if you say Happy Holidays, or Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever, intolerance is being outraged at the very mention of something that isn't "neutral". Tolerance would be wishing them a happy Kwanzaa right back. Sure I don't celebrate Kwanzaa, but this is the polite and tolerant thing to do! If a Jew were to give me a gift in celebration of Hanukkah, it is quite acceptable nowadays to break it to pieces and throw it in their face, and scold them for being intolerant of my beliefs. Hyperbole, maybe, but it proves my point. At schools, Christmas plays and parties are getting canceled because not everyone believes in Christmas. However, and this is a real example, if one kid in one class doesn't celebrate Christmas, why should the whole school suffer. In this instance, the class Christmas party was canceled, as was the school's Christmas play! Which, makes for a horrible situation for the teachers as well, they can't exactly tell the class that they aren't having a Christmas party because Johnny's mom is a bitch. Rather then explaining to Johnny that they do not celebrate Christmas, which is what a good parent would do, she decides that no one else must either. Half a class that does not celebrate Christmas is one thing, but one kid, or more accurately one parent? This is not tolerance!

In an age where Politically Correct are holy words, we are very quickly failing to achieve it. So, where do we go? How do we get back on the path to tolerance and Politically Correctness? Common Sense and unselfishness, something severely lacking in the world today. Let those around you celebrate in the way they feel fit too, and should that intrude into your little bubble of whatever you celebrate or believe, don't get angry or push your beliefs on them. Wish them well, celebrate with them even, and let them celebrate what you believe. We must learn, or losing a Christmas tree will be the least of what we lose.

Ok, rant over, I'm feeling better now.