Which holiday is this again?

I work in retail. Hardware, to be specific. I think, as far as retail work goes, hardware has to be about the best. We carry products that people actually need. We get fewer browsers than other kinds of retail. People go to the hardware store because they have a need for something, not just trying to satisfy that innate human desire for something new and shiny.

This time of year, I try to end every encounter with a customer with "Happy Holidays." I do this for a few reasons. I do want people to enjoy this season as best as possible, considering it's cold as hell and dark for far too long every day. Winter is not good for people. It makes us cranky and depressed. It's obvious to me why every culture has some kind of celebration in the dead of winter. People need some cheering up this time of year.

Another reason for the "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" should be blindingly obvious; Christmas, Hanakkuh and Kwanza all take place in December. I can't, as a retail associate, risk putting one holiday above another. With the exception of Kwanza, I can't really tell who might be a Jew and who might be a Christian. No big deal, right? People know this, right?

Then why do I still get customers who reply with "You too." Quickly followed with "Merry Christmas?" Immediatly, I am forced to think of that living compost heap that calls itself Bill O'Reilly and his imaginary "War on Christmas." When this happens, I wish I had a really good retort that I can state my objection to the seemingly endless co-opting of everything by Christians, without being offensive. I want to say. "I'm not Christian" or "Io, Saturnalia" or "may the sun return after the Solstice." Something to let these white-bread suburbanites know that Jesus isn't the only religion out there, regardless of what Saul of Tarses has to say about it.

It bothers me, because Christmas really has become an insanely commercial entity in America, stuffed seam-rippingly full of all sorts of disparate imagery that has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. It bothers me because nearly everyone talks about the "true meaning of Christmas" when they can't nail down what that really is.

But you sure as hell better not take Christ out of the mix.

Sometime, I wish I had a little Star of David pin to wear. Something barely noticed until the whole holiday/christmas thing comes up. Maybe it will stop them in their tracks. Maybe it might make them ... dare I hope, actually have to think about this topic. I won't though, because I'm not a Jew, and that would be demeaning.

Those who know me know that I am not a Christian. I don't have a problem with Jesus, I drank the Kool-Aid, but it didn't take. I have some issues with Christians, however. I agree with Ghandi (or was it the Dalai Lama?), when asked what he thought of  Christianity, he replied, "It sounds like a good idea. Someone should try it."

Maybe it's because northern European white people adopted it, and they are conquerors and despoilers by nature. Maybe it's the conversion/redemption factor of Christianity itself that is the root cause. I don't know, but the effect has been that Christians, for the last 2000 years, have rolled over other cultures with all the grace and tolerance of Army ants on the move. That which stands in their way will be consumed, absorbed or minimalized into extinction.

Which brings me to the twenty-first century and our fictional "War on Christmas." There is no such war, but there are those of us who are tired of having someone else's religion crammed down our throats. We don't necessarily want some manger scene, with a blonde Mary, and all white nativity cast (except for that one token black Maji) in our city holiday display. In short, THIS HOLIDAY IS NOT THE SOLE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF WHITE CHRISTIANS! Get over it, you ain't the only game in town.

I guess the only real answer lies within each individual. Discover for yourself what this holiday means. Create your own definition of the "True Meaning of Christmas." I suggest you begin by reading up about Saturnalia on Wikipedia. Perhaps re-reading Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It's a fine, inspirational story intended to get the reader to consider the less-than-humane aspects of their own lives.  O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi" is a wonderfully ironic take on gift giving.

As for the rest of the tripe and trappings, you can have it. For me, Christmas is a gauntlet to run. An obstacle-course of bad weather, trite and cloying songs and the annual anxiety of gift giving on a dental floss budget. Just hunker down, get through the cold, unyielding darkness and hang in there until Spring returns.

While I'm doing that, in the immortal words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"