Merry Christmas, Gentle Reader. On these pages, anyway, that is what it's going to be. Not Season's Greetings and certainly not that lame Happy Holidays. It is Christmas. Whether you believe in Jesus, in Santa, or nothing. On these pages today is Christmas Day. This is part of our heritage, whether we like it or not, and many of you don't, Gentle Reader, because you have such an irrational hate-on about the Christian faith. Celebrate it whatever way you like, and feel perfectly free to wish me happy holidays or seasons greetings till you're blue in the face, but I will respond with a polite thank you or a not so polite Merry Christmas. We're all in this together. We still have free speech in this country and even though this makes some of you want to gag, we have a largely Christian heritage and this should be nothing to be ashamed of or to apologize for.
To my Jewish readers, Happy Hanukah, because this year it coincides with Christmas.
The rest of you are going to have to wait your turn.
Christian heritage or not, I could hardly say that this has ever been a Christian country what with the early history of slavery, bigotry, legislated misogyny, homophobia and the huge stigma that still exists towards people with disabilities, especially towards those who suffer from mental illness.
We have come a long way, but I think it is tragic that our thinking is still so black and white, so either or, that many of us feel that we have to be ashamed of and abandon some of the Christian influences that have helped mold us as a culture of compassion and fairness. Of course, this hasn't been so in other so-called Christian countries. Just look at the vicious hatred in "Christian" Hungary against Muslim refugees. What I mean to say, Gentle Reader, is why can't we take the best from each of the traditions that have helped shape us and integrate them into a superior whole?
For me it's been a pleasant if inauspicious Christmas morning. I have been alone, devoting my time to breakfast, emails and Skype texts wishing my many friends here and abroad a Merry Christmas, or for my Spanish speakers, Feliz Navidad. I have also done my laundry. On my way down with my bag of clothes I had a chance to chat with an Afro-Honduran lady who lives on my floor. She is the first person I saw and spoke to this Christmas morning. Like me, a strong Christian. We usually chat in Spanish. She is a very warm lovely person and for me this visit in the elevator felt like a real Christmas gift. As she was heading for the door I thanked her for the gift and she gave a beautiful smile.
Breakfast has been, oh, SO GOOD! My traditional apple bread pudding topped with home made caramel sauce (brown sugar, butter, a bit of milk, stirred at boiling point in a sauce pan) and vanilla Greek yogurt.
I wish you all joy today, and a New Year full of hope and new things. I pray that we all have the gift of courage and faith and that we reach out to one another in a spirit of kindness, compassion and fraternal love.
peace to us all, Gentle Reader
Aaron
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