A few days
ago a good friend made a post while on vacation in Costa Rica. He described the
beauty of the Good Friday celebrations and expressed his thoughts and wonder of
how such celebrations were going on all over the world, and the beauty of it
all. At some point during the festivities, some jackass in a flea-bitten rabbit
suit came bounding through the crowd, cheapening the sacred gathering and
bringing a trivial side to an otherwise joyous occasion.
This got
me to thinking, or to be more accurate; helped boil over some long simmering
thoughts on how we celebrate Holidays. The meanings are all but lost in popular
culture and interestingly enough, many who celebrate these holidays are against
what these very holidays stand for. If you don’t believe me, do some research
on how some folks of no religious belief complain about others using the word
Christmas when celebrating you guessed it, Christmas.Easter itself is one of what I call the mandatory church attendance dates for the “Two a Year” crowd; meaning it is one of only two days a year when certain people go to church, the other of course being Christmas. One Easter, my wife and our young son went to church while I went to work. Naturally, most people understand when a man has to go to work to support his family but one person in particular took exception to it. When asked where I was that day, my wife informed the woman of my whereabouts. “It figures he would go to work instead of coming to church today” the woman said, raising her nose so high in the air she likely scraped some boogers on the thirty-foot ceiling of the sanctuary. In her opinion, skipping church fifty times a year was totally acceptable for her, yet my going to work on a one of the two days she chose to attend church was totally unacceptable AND reason to criticize my wife. So, for some people it’s apparent church is where you go, especially on holidays; to criticize people who aren’t there. Something tells me they’re missing the message.
Easter isn’t the only day where we collectively forget the meaning, adding our own trivial celebrations as we stray further away from the true meanings. Bookending Easter we have our favorite ethnic holidays in Saint Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo. In our fair land, the only difference is the type of hat we wear and which brand of beer we drink. Nothing against the Irish celebration itself, but exactly how intelligent are we as a race of humans if we believe a priest waved his shillelagh and chased all the snakes out of a land which was never ecologically capable of supporting reptile life in the first place?
I am certain that barely a fraction of a percent of revelers know the true significance of Cinco de Mayo while hoisting their Corona’s and wearing sombrero’s which are surprisingly not banned in this era of Political Correctness run rampant. The Battle of Puebla was, as most may know; between Mexican and French forces. What none of us are taught is the French Army was attempting to march all the way to Dixie, in an effort to provide military assistance to the Confederate Army. The American Civil War would surely have had a different outcome had the French been victorious at Puebla, yet yearly news coverage suggests the only things worthy of celebration are $20 beer garden tickets, mariachis and great deals on tacos…
Such trivial celebration lacking in true meaning carries on throughout the year. What’s the difference between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July? If you look at the collective celebrations in our society, the only two visible differences are the date and one has fireworks. Thankfully, there are still Boy Scouts across the land who place flags at every grave in every National Cemetery across the land. This is not exactly so at public cemeteries, as the following anecdote will show. Last year I watched news coverage of a Memorial Day “celebration” at a local cemetery. While Taps was being played two young boys stood in the background. One boy’s eyes were glued to his phone while the other swayed side to side, eating from a bag of chips.
This gave me three examples of absolute ignorance toward the meaning of the holiday. Though there is no official law on an individual’s conduct when Taps is being played, it was evident the boys could not have cared less either way. Second, the parents of these boys were just as ignorant. I say this because had they been aware, surely they would have taught their sons proper conduct before arriving at such a sacred (at least to some…) ceremony. Last and possibly worst of all, the camera man chose to shoot the video with the boys in view and the director back at the station chose to air it. So it’s likely these boys went to school the next day bragging about how they got on TV the night before.
They may have had their moment of fame yet what they really did for me and for anyone else paying attention was show us how indifferent, ignorant and downright sloppy many people can be. Needless to say, I have not voluntarily watched that particular newscast since then…
One that
really has grinded at me over the past few years is Thanksgiving. Now, I’m all
for football on this day yet football and even turkey now come in at a distant
second to the all-important Black Friday sales. We’ll see a story or two about
feeding the homeless, maybe a newscaster will share a childhood memory or two.
But the king of the airwaves is the amazing deals on electronics, clothing and
any manner of otherwise useless material possessions. In each of the past five
years, I have read online posts from people actually bragging about ditching
their children at a relative’s house to line up at a store at noon Thanksgiving
Day. NOON!
Ironically,
the same people who brag about that new TV or god forbid video game system
usually spend all of December complaining about the mounting bills. Guess
shopping on Black Friday didn’t save them as much money as they expected…Christmas. Ahh, who can forget the wide-eyed mornings under the tree? Or the smell of roasted ham in grandma’s kitchen? I certainly can’t and they are beautiful memories indeed. Yet those who choose to celebrate Christmas are forced to contend with the intolerance of those who don’t believe in the story of Christmas yet demand to be included in the celebration. The mantra of “Keep Christ in Christmas” echoes another thought; for those who choose not to celebrate Christmas are hell-bent on taking Christmas away from Christians.
Yet as
much as I love the music, love the food and certainly love the looks on my children’s
eyes on Christmas Morning, for the life of me I cannot understand what trees,
candy canes and flying venison have to do with it…
In grade
school I was sent to the principal’s office many times. So many in fact the
waiting area outside Mr. Aceves office was like a second classroom to me. Yet there
was one time I was sent away for asking what I felt to be an innocent and
honest question. A classmate of mine was allowed to place his head on his desk
in silence when the rest of us said the Pledge of Allegiance. In this day and
age, anyone who pledges to the Red White and Blue is often considered
intolerant, elitist and even racist. But when I was a child, pride in our flag
and gratitude for all the things it stood for was actually considered a good
thing.I always wondered why this classmate was not required to pledge and after asking my teacher about it, he explained how his religious beliefs prohibited it. Though I was satisfied with the answer, it brought forth a newer, deeper question. “Mr. Almack, if he doesn’t believe in God, Jesus or the American Flag, why does he get to stay home from school on Memorial Day and Christmas?” He didn’t have an answer for that one, or at least not a verbal answer. He scribbled a note on a piece of paper, slid across the desk to me and said “Get out of my classroom…”
Now, the
preceding may have come off as insensitive. Yet not once did I criticize my
classmate for following a differing belief, I simply wondered why he was
allowed to enjoy the benefits of a belief system he didn’t agree with.
For those
of you who go to church every week and live the principles of your chosen
religious path every day, I applaud
you. To those who revere the American Flag and everything it stands for year
round, I salute you. Those of you who show gratitude every day, I thank you.
To all of
you and everyone else, I say this;
Don’t get
me started on Columbus Day…
