An alternative to the holiday wars

I have this theory that if we could get rid of political correctness and replace it with some common courtesy, things would work out a lot better.

Last week I found it ironic that the only people from my workplace who dared say 'Merry Christmas' were those from Singapore or Zurich. New York is just way too politically correct. Everyone from NY sent generic 'happy holidays' messages. It's not that I'm offended exactly -- after all, most of them aren't believers in the first place, so there's no reason they should be celebrating Christmas. But the Christians (myself among them) generally don't send anything at all, so it doesn't have to turn into an issue. That's a sad state of affairs.

This week, the office is pretty empty, since most of the managers are out. That means that there are hardly any Americans around. Most of my co-workers are Indians, and most of those are Hindu (although a few are Muslim). They greeted me this morning, and pleasantly asked me if I had spent a Merry Christmas. They were quite interested to know how I celebrated, but seemed satisfied to hear that I spend Christmas day with family, and went to church on Christmas eve, and on Christmas morning. One was eager to tell me that he himself had gone to a Christmas party. His punchline deserved a drum-roll: "It was the birthday of the baby Jesus!" Then he looked at me to see if he had said the right thing or not, and I emphatically agreed. The other gentlemen standing around the coffee maker seemed pleased that they had figured out this foreign custom.

Then a Rumanian co-worker asked me what I did for Christmas, and again I said that I spent it with family and in church. I suddenly realized that instead of being politically correct I could simply ask which holiday he celebrated. He acknowledged that he celebrates Christmas, as he is Eastern Orthodox (although non-practicing). He said that when he was young Christmas was not so overdone. Of course, some of it has to do with the fact that it was communist rather than capitalist, but it was still interesting to hear the difference. He said that children received just a few small sweets or toys. In fact, they carefully polished their shoes, because the gifts appeared inside! So now that he lives in a 'free' country, he celebrates Christmas by going to the mall instead of to church.