I Blog Poetry and Prose

Contemplating the Holiday Season

Jamal (Beauty), 15 Qawl (Speech) 177 B.E. - Sunday, December 6, 2020

For me, December isn't the Holiday Season. If one of my friends or family invites me to their holiday celebration, I will go and participate in the celebration out of respect for my friend or family member. When I go out in public--this year I will be wearing a mask--I will say Happy Holidays, because I don't know which winter holiday the person I'm talking to celebrates. If someone says Merry Christmas, I will respond with a Merry Christmas. Otherwise, I will smile--under my mask--and say Happy Holidays.

I am a world citizen. I live in a multicultural society. I interact with people of various religious affiliations or no religious affiliation. Therefor, a person's religious affiliation doesn't matter to me, unless someone starts telling me I'm going to hell because I don't believe as they do. This is the point when it stops being the holiday season and becomes the "I'll pray for you salvation" season. There was a time, when it would have become the bah-humbug season, but bah-humbug has become a cliché. I'm attempting to avoid clichés, with the exception of pandemic.