Southern York County Life

Alex - 16 December 2007 08:14 AM

saying “Merry Christmas”. No “Happy Holidays” or anything like that. Just good, honest and hearty greetings.

Whats wrong with saying Happy Holidays?

markG - 16 December 2007 07:25 AM

Chris_McGraw - 16 December 2007 06:37 AM

stephen - 16 December 2007 05:48 AM

Baseball-type caps.  Not necessarily with baseball insignias.  I am not sure what you call them.

They looked like grown-up Leave it to Beavers eating dinner with their caps on.

You must have momentarily forgotten where you live..........this is nothing new

I am only 43, but I can remember getting my hat slapped off of my head by Mom or Dad in a restaurant when I was a kid.  I see Stephen’s point. 

Children are not taught the most basic of “manners” anymore

This may be what made it so noticable to me.  Most of these guys had 5 year old kids at the table.  They weren’t wearing caps.

chrisjames_71 - 16 December 2007 08:21 AM

Alex - 16 December 2007 08:14 AM

saying “Merry Christmas”. No “Happy Holidays” or anything like that. Just good, honest and hearty greetings.

Whats wrong with saying Happy Holidays?

There is nothing wrong with saying Happy Holidays, but S. Truett Cathy, Founder of Chick-Fil-A is a devout Christian that is not ashamed to proclaim his beliefs.  I think that this is what Alex was trying to say.  Here is a clip from Cathy’s bio:

CLOSED ON SUNDAY

Chick-fil-A is the only major fast-food restaurant chain to be closed on Sundays, one of the busiest days of the week in the restaurant business. Despite being closed on Sundays, Truett Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an unparalleled record of 38 consecutive years of sales increases, with its core free-standing restaurants achieving higher sales per unit in six days (with shorter operating hours) than most major chains in the industry.

Everyone has become so PC and desensitized to their own beliefs that we are afraid to say anything to anyone because we may offend them.  If I say Merry Christmas and someone wishes me a Happy Kwanzaa, I am not going to be offended. 

Every gender, race, sexual orientation and nationality has an advocacy group that tells us how we should act toward one another, and I am quickly seeing that there are only 3 groups of people left on earth that can be discriminated against without any fear of retribution, overweight people, Christians and Jews.  I fit 2 out of the 3 categories and I see and hear it everyday.  We live in diverse nation that has room for everyone, and we should be tolerant of each other.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxer Day to ALL!

Alex - 16 December 2007 08:14 AM

I always like how they are willing to pay fines in malls because they refuse to be open on Sundays. They stick to their guns and do not compromise their values.

Or the taste of their food!!

stephen - 16 December 2007 09:27 AM

This may be what made it so noticable to me.  Most of these guys had 5 year old kids at the table.  They weren’t wearing caps.

Maybe their kids should’ve slapped their hats off!!!

markG - 16 December 2007 09:43 AM

Everyone has become so PC and desensitized to their own beliefs that we are afraid to say anything to anyone because we may offend them.  If I say Merry Christmas and someone wishes me a Happy Kwanzaa, I am not going to be offended. 

Every gender, race, sexual orientation and nationality has an advocacy group that tells us how we should act toward one another, and I am quickly seeing that there are only 3 groups of people left on earth that can be discriminated against without any fear of retribution, overweight people, Christians and Jews.  I fit 2 out of the 3 categories and I see and hear it everyday.  We live in diverse nation that has room for everyone, and we should be tolerant of each other.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxer Day to ALL!

Yeah, I fall into 2 of those 3 too!

We just had a discussion about this last week at work.  The whole building is decorated for the holidays (Christmas) with wreaths, bows, Santas, snowmen, etc.  When the receptionist wanted to put up a Christmas tree in our office, she was told no by HR, because it might offend someone.  My immediate thought was “And the Santa heads dangling from the ceiling don’t????” I told our HR rep, if someone wanted to put up decorations for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa (which the company actually has in the past), it wouldn’t affect or offend me because I don’t celebrate those holidays.  Their response was that we had to decorate for everything.  Not being of those religions and knowing protocol, what if I do and I do it incorrectly?  The last thing I would want to do is offend someone.  Look at the teacher in Sudan who was jailed because her class of kids nicknamed a teddy bear Mohammed. 

So, the current decorations stay.  Um, I think it should be all or nothing.

Would it have offended anyone had you driven through town earlier in the month and instead of Santas and snowmen hanging from the telephone posts, there would’ve been menorahs or Stars of David?  If it would’ve, then you have no right to complain about other people being offended by Christmas.  I wouldn’t have cared, I probably would’ve thought it made the place look festive, regardless.  (It would draw attention away from the ragged and run down buildings!)

I’m with you, someone’s religious beliefs don’t factor into their being friends with me.  I’ve got friends and family all over the board with belief systems.  It’s their personalities that make them who they are, not which god they pray to.  The funny thing about everyone being on their “PC” horse is that when you take away Christmas part of the holidays to not offend the other religions, you’re actually offending Christians in the process.  It would be like Hanukkah with no menorahs.

The best card we received last year during the holidays is from friends who are multi-religious in one household.  It read “HAPPY EVERYTHING!”

Can’t we all just get along??????

I have always said to people I only see around Christmas “Happy Holiday” referring to the Holiday season of Christmas and New Year.  Now, if I say that I feel like people think I am just trying to be “PC”

markG - 16 December 2007 07:25 AM

Chris_McGraw - 16 December 2007 06:37 AM

stephen - 16 December 2007 05:48 AM

Baseball-type caps.  Not necessarily with baseball insignias.  I am not sure what you call them.

They looked like grown-up Leave it to Beavers eating dinner with their caps on.

You must have momentarily forgotten where you live..........this is nothing new

I am only 43, but I can remember getting my hat slapped off of my head by Mom or Dad in a restaurant when I was a kid.  I see Stephen’s point. 

I doubt it has to do with geography. Its more like the generation where this type of behaviour/respect of removing hats when entering buildings or greeting a lady proper has long passed. Its very common and accepted today for the hat to remain on. Welcome to today Stephen.

The only place where the hat comes off these days is church or during the national anthem.

chrisjames_71 - 16 December 2007 08:21 AM

Whats wrong with saying Happy Holidays?

Umm, because I am celebrating the birth of my lord and your saviour. Its not a holiday, its Christmas.  In a religion where it is blasphemous to have another God before Him, wishing me a different religious greeting should not be met with grace and gratitude. You are a non believer.  You cannot possibly censor or santitize a religion that teachs one and only one. Political correctness fails at this point.

---That was the hardcore answer

Acutally wish what you want. Nothing wrong with it, just dont be taken aback when someone decided to “enlighten” you a bit on their belief. Dont discount it or walk away. Give them their due respect. I have wished everyone this season with a Merry Christmas, and I have yet to be “corrected” with “Its Happy Holidays”

---Thats the modern answer.

Chick Filet is a Christian business founded by Truit Cathy.

who cares if you wear a hat when you eat?
geeeez, was the foood and service goood?

wake up! hats are just hats… we’re not alll brethren…

hey loook! another thread turned into religion… great.

eEL - 17 December 2007 12:58 AM

who cares if you wear a hat when you eat?
geeeez, was the foood and service goood?

wake up! hats are just hats… we’re not alll brethren…

hey loook! another thread turned into religion… great.

I was just curious - why? 

Is your head cold?  Pigeons?  Vanity?  Why cover your head to eat?

eEL - 17 December 2007 12:58 AM

who cares if you wear a hat when you eat?
geeeez, was the foood and service goood?

wake up! hats are just hats… we’re not alll brethren…

hey loook! another thread turned into religion… great.

eEL

It has nothing to do with religion, but you chose to take it there. Part of the problem with our society today is that there are no standards for basic conduct. “Do what you want and to heck with the other guy”, “do what makes YOU feel good, and it is OK”. Well, the real truth is that it is not OK! We have always been a society based on social decency and welfare. Yep, as a nation we have had our pitfalls, women’s suffrage, slavery and the like, but we have overcome those things and hopefully learned from it.

When a man can not simply remove his hat when he comes into a room, say thank you or you are welcome when served or hold a door for lady before rushing through the door yourself then this is simply a basic breakdown in the fabric of our society that WILL and has lead to the demise of our civil society as we know it. There is some great reading on the Internet about the average life of democratic nations throughout history, and one of the commonalities of the demise of almost every great society like the Greeks and Romans and soon the U.S. is that there is a breakdown in social functionality. The “do whatever you like theory”.

Will you wearing a hat in a restaurant be the end of our great nation? I don’t think so, but when all of the factors of social ignorance are added up it puts us on the road to destruction.

So, keep your hat on your head in the restaurant so I know who you are and I can make sure that the door does not slam in my wife’s face when we leave!

markG - 17 December 2007 08:46 AM

eEL - 17 December 2007 12:58 AM

who cares if you wear a hat when you eat?
geeeez, was the foood and service goood?

wake up! hats are just hats… we’re not alll brethren…

hey loook! another thread turned into religion… great.

eEL

It has nothing to do with religion, but you chose to take it there.

I’m pretty sure eEL was not the person to take this thread into the religious debate that was sparked sever posts before his. And I’m also pretty sure he did not intend to make the baseball cap - religion correlation, if there even is one.

Now on the religion subject: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever. When someone wishes you a happy holiday I think it’s pretty well understood by everybody that it’s a polite greeting this time of year even if it doesn’t fit your personal lifestyle, it’s someone trying to be nice to you. If you are of a different religion that’s fine, smile, walk away, say thanks, whatever you want. But if someone is just trying to be polite and you’re one of those people that gets all offended and rebutes them with some religious propaganda then in my opinion you’re just way too sensitive and self-righteous, probably the same person that complains about what’s on TV when you can just change the channel (but I bet you keep watching anyway).

When a man can not simply remove his hat when he comes into a room, say thank you or you are welcome when served or hold a door for lady before rushing through the door yourself then this is simply a basic breakdown in the fabric of our society that WILL and has lead to the demise of our civil society as we know it.

Like he said, it is just a hat. I wear them and still manage to be courteous to others.