Should it be Merry Christmas? Happy Hanukkah? Beautiful Kwanzaa? Or just generic Happy Holidays?

At least one Jew and one Christian think exactly alike about these seasonal matters.

In the world of business generally, this has turned into a much bigger deal than it needs to be.  Regrettably so, if you ask me. 

Even though I appear to not care, I'm always eaves-dropping at this time of the year, interested in paying attention to the social "politics" at play in the office or in the store--about how people greet each other.  Is it going to be Merry Chrismas?  Or, instead, so as to not "offend" people, will it be something more religiously neutral, and politically safe...like Happy Holidays?   

Frankly, I'm not offended if anyone greets me with whatever sincerely springs from their heart...their Jewish heart, their Muslim heart, their Christian heart!  Even those with agnostic or atheist's hearts! What's more, I can't understand the cranks who are who think it is a big deal.  From my perspective, the meaning of the season is driven by all the special backgrounds of different people--and whatever the wellspring of the feeling maybe for you or someone else, far be it from me to think it should be about me!  

It's not exactly peace in the world, but it's getting there!

Ben Stein wrote a great piece on exactly this matter, and I wanted to share it with you on the day before my big-deal, end-of-the-year day...that would be Christmas--which I know for a fact is different from Ben's end-of-the-year, big deal day!  Nonetheless, we couldn't agree more!  Here my Jewish brother makes the point that's mine as well--in his own exact words!  

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was  Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. 

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. 

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

 I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Way to go, Ben.  Merry Christmas!  

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