Several years ago, I worked at a car dealership in Northern VA. It was a large dealership and we had more than 100 employees and native born American’s were not a majority. It was the picture of diversity. One day during Ramadan, I walked by the wash bay and saw that a number of Afghan employees were about to share their fast breaking meal. One saw me walk by and invited me to join them. He knew I wasn’t Muslim, but he wanted me to share in his tradition. I felt very honored and even though I had just eaten, I joined them for some bread and lamb.
It was the absolute essence of inclusion. They included me into their culture.
This got me thinking about Christmas and the use of the term
“Merry Christmas.” At the time of the
above incident, I wasn’t a Christian. I
was agnostic (at best) but I treasured the Christmas traditions that go far
beyond religious meaning. Even when you
remove Christ from Christmas, that day is still a valuable part of the American
experience. It is about families, hope,
love and remembering to care for others.
It is about giving. It is when
wars are put on hold. It is when we
forgo work in order to be with family.
It is when children marvel at the wonders their parents worked so hard
to make happen. We even manage to put
politics aside, even if just for a few hours.
It is a wonderful time of the year.
And all of that is before you add in the miracle of the birth
of our Savior. Being a Christian makes
it all the more wondrous and special.
So as an American, I am excited for Christmas. I want to share it with others. I will wish others a Merry Christmas because
to do otherwise would be very selfish. “Merry
Christmas” is a term of inclusion,
not exclusion. Like my Muslim friend, I
want others to share in my traditions. “Happy
Holidays” misses the point. I’m not
celebrating a generic holiday. I’m
celebrating Christmas. It is my wish to
include others in this. It would be rude of me to not include people
from outside my culture.
If you are Jewish, I would be honored if you replied “and a
Happy Hanukkah to you!” If you have a
celebration that is important to your culture, let me know about it. I’d love to hear about it and I would love to
be included. If you don’t celebrate anything,
just say “thanks.” You don’t have to be
Christian for me to wish you all the best of the season I celebrate.
