Mark, something in your post prompts me to share a little reader mail. That something is, “Interestingly, the two objectors in this story are Jewish and Muslim” — objectors to the banishment of Christmas, that is. In yesterday’s Impromptus, and in a Corner post, I stepped into the arena of “Merry Christmas” — the verbotenization of that phrase. I mentioned that I have a Jewish friend who works in a large Catholic organization — and he is the only one who gets away with saying “Merry Christmas.”
A reader who works at a textile company wrote,
A few years ago, our company received dozens of Christmas cards, and only five wished us a “Merry Christmas” instead of “Season’s Greetings” or some such. One card came from a Christian, two cards came from Jewish fabric brokers in New York City, and two cards came from Muslim fabric-mill owners in Pakistan.
Of course. Then there were e-mails like this:
As an Orthodox Jew, I find it unsurprising that your Jewish friend is the one who wishes co-workers a Merry Christmas. After all, we tend to be a religious people. . . . You will find that it is generally the non-observant — Jew and Christian alike — who protest Nativity scenes at a mall or other such places. Not to speak for all Orthodox Jews, but I don’t think it bothers us in the least. Nor do we need an electric-light Menorah put up next to a Nativity scene for equality.
For many of us, Christmas is a wonderful time of year. People seem to realize that there is more to the world than just themselves . . .
Etc., etc. We all know these tunes, but it’s nice to be reminded of them, and to sing them a bit once more.