Okay, it’s already happening. As I left a store in the 10th
Street shopping zone, the cashier called to me,
”
Merry Christmas!
”
So many people offer these parting words to strangers upon
leaving shops, restaurants and random discussions. Such a nice,
friendly thing to do!
Okay, it’s already happening. As I left a store in the 10th Street shopping zone, the cashier called to me, “Merry Christmas!”
So many people offer these parting words to strangers upon leaving shops, restaurants and random discussions. Such a nice, friendly thing to do!
So why do I sometimes smile and say, “And Happy Hanukkah to you!” although I’m not Jewish?
Two reasons. It irks me when people make big assumptions – in this case, that the person they’re addressing is of the same faith. But it also bugs me on an empathy level, thinking about the experience of those who don’t celebrate Christmas and yet hear this phase over and over and don’t want to waste time correcting the person … after all, it’s usually offered as a parting shot when you’re already half-turned and ready to go.
Is it so very hard to re-form that sentiment into the catch-all “Happy Holidays” instead?
December belongs to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid and doubtless a slew of others. I wish I knew of a Native American holiday, for those who assert that Christians were the first Americans and therefore our country should officially celebrate Christmas.
Those forward-thinking gentlemen who crafted the First Amendment (and let’s ignore for the moment their slaveholding and failure to consider women’s votes) guaranteed us freedom of religion. That’s been part of the Bill of Rights for 218 years, adopted this very month back in 1791. That tacitly includes acknowledgment of other religions.
I’ve never felt the term “melting pot” properly expressed what’s great about our country. To me, when things melt together they become uniform. A better metaphor would be the crazy quilt, where you can still see each individual, idiosyncratic scrap of fabric, but they are all still sewn together.
To those you know who celebrate Christmas or the holiday of your choice, by all means use the specific terminology. But for strangers, there’s an easy fix and it shouldn’t hurt that much: Happy Holidays!
n n n
When I suggested recently that Gilroy Gardens could do better outreach/publicity, I got flamed online. Well, a San Francisco friend recently called me and added a little fuel to the fire.
Here’s the basic transcript:
Her: I just heard a radio spot for Gilroy Gardens. What is that?
Me: You listened to the ad and you don’t know?
Her: It was some guy with a plummy voice saying something mysterious about “Come back to Gilroy Gardens.” Is it like a botanical place?
Me: Argh.
Now, granted I haven’t heard the radio ad myself but I’m sure something being broadcast over San Francisco airwaves is expensive-no one should ever pay for that and not clearly describe the product being advertised. Let’s face it, the park is already laboring under a misleading name. Now, flame away!
n n n
On Tuesday our beloved library closed for a few months, while books are moved to the temporary quarters at 7652 Monterey St., between Third and Fourth streets. The last few days the library was open, an excited buzz filled the air. Entire shelves were already cleaned out, as some of the less-circulated material was already pulled.
I saw more patrons there than I ever had before. “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?” sang Joni Mitchell, and it’s true. Impending closure (albeit temporary) sure worked for the library, although it seems to work less well for businesses that make that threat on a regular basis-like some furniture stores I won’t mention whose windows constantly claim that they’re going out of business.
One of the best aspects of the library’s brief closure (until sometime in February) was that patrons can keep items until the re-opening. For someone like me, who loves books on CDs for the car but can’t seem to “read” them fast enough, this was great. I took two of those.
I also tend to take out DVDs and never watch them and then pay fines. I took out about 10 of those, knowing I now have over two months to watch them.
And books? Well, let’s just say I have 52 items out, according to my online library account. I had to make two trips to the car to get all of them safely out of the library!
The librarians seemed to be in high spirits, too. They have a lot of work ahead of them – don’t worry they don’t have to move the books themselves! But imagining the brand-new library on the site of the old one, thanks to city voters, surely makes the transition a little less painful.
Can’t wait for that day!
