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One little trip to the grocery store and I am in almost three accidents. One was an elderly lady who looks like she drove her car last when Eisenhower was president. She cruised right through a stop sign and I don't think she even saw me. Of course seeing over the steering wheel would probably have been helpful. 51 weeks out of the year she is wise enough to know she shouldn't be driving, but Christmas must happen, regardless of public safety.
The next was someone on a cell phone as they pulled out of parking space. I was walking back to my car and they just kept coming and they would have surely backed over me if I didn't jump out of the way. I slapped the fender and they didn't even look up ... just kept on yakking.
And then there was the monster pickup truck that was riding my bumper so close he could count the bugs on my license plate. I was coming to my turn and slowing down, and he inched closer and closer until he had to slam on his brakes and swerve. Good thing there wasn't any oncoming traffic.
The pressure to fulfill holiday obligations has everybody distracted, aggressive and lacking in common sense. I think this is the Christmas I build the bomb shelter in the back yard and stock it with supplies for about two months. Next year we go in right after Halloween.
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I gave my student a chance to make up his finals and oral exam since he was in the hospital with dengue fever. I'm still waiting for him to show up
Typical . We try do something nice and people don't even stop.to think about the time your giving up just to help them
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wyndslash
But why is there a need to take offense in the first place?
Because it's a lie.
If our recorded history is accurate and stories from the scripture are true that Joseph was called to the city of his birth (Bethlehem) for the Roman census along with his very pregnant wife who gave birth to Joshua ben Joseph (aka Jesus) shortly after their arrival, then it would have been some time in the month of April, by the current calendar.
Christmas is an artificially constructed holiday under the thinly veiled guise of the birth of Christ to compete politically with the Pagan solstice festivals and coincidentally at the slowest time of the agricultural cycle to give people something to keep them occupied between harvest and planting.
The jolly old elf mythology is just a recent addition to bolster the mercantile nature of our society post-industrialization.
Well, I'd like to think I'm pretty sincere when I wish someone to have a merry christmas. It's just too petty to take offense, I think, because someone is wishing you well and I'd rather look at it that way rather than be cynical.
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I appreciate the intentions, but I don't appreciate that everyone thinks everyone else shares the same beliefs.
I don't celebrate Christmas. Why would I have a merry Christmas any more than I would enjoy a movie I won't be going to see.
"Merry Christmas" to a non Christian is just nonsensical.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zuben el genub
Happy Holidays, then.
Some places give extra time off, so if you get any time off, you should be happy.
I used to work holidays - happy because of double overtime.
I can get behind the happy holidays thing. That, to me, is more "P.C." and just plain more polite.
I have to admit i struggle with this.
My son is just over 3mo old, and so we don't have to worry about it this year, but we soon will. The rest of our families celebrate Christmas, and expect us to as well. We want to see everyone and enjoy each others company, and we know our boy will get presents from grandma and grandpa, but we don't want to teach him that a bearded fat white man with little slaves actually exists.
We'll probably teach him about the "magic" of Christmas and that Santa is pretend. But he will also learn about the other holidays, religions, etc the same way.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAtheistReverend
I can get behind the happy holidays thing. That, to me, is more "P.C." and just plain more polite.
I have to admit i struggle with this.
My son is just over 3mo old, and so we don't have to worry about it this year, but we soon will. The rest of our families celebrate Christmas, and expect us to as well. We want to see everyone and enjoy each others company, and we know our boy will get presents from grandma and grandpa, but we don't want to teach him that a bearded fat white man with little slaves actually exists.
We'll probably teach him about the "magic" of Christmas and that Santa is pretend. But he will also learn about the other holidays, religions, etc the same way.
That IS a dilemma.
I don't ever remember believing in Santa Claus, or being asked to believe in him either. I will have to check with my brother on this issue, but I can think back to as early as 6 and recall that I knew the presents under the tree came not from some overweight, redsuited interloper, but from family and freinds. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is the horrible trauma of finding out the reality of Santa Claus that has driven it totally from my mind, but . . um . . . i don't think so. I always saw myself more as the Charlie Brown/Linus type searching for profundity and getting nothing but superficial fluff. And when the depth of spirit and feeling were there, no one else seemed to be that interested.
I suppose that is why i never propagated the legend/myth [nice euphemism for a lie] of Santa to my own son.
Hmmmm . . . what should you tell them. . . that is again a tough one. Is it not better for them to know that gifts they get at the holidays are given by people who love them and care about them, and are given in the spirit of generosity and sharing, rather than it is payment she deserves for their behavior from some anonymous clown? In the Santa tradition, remember, poor behavior is punished by the withholding of those deserved gifts, so children who get nothing, or worse, less than they think they deserve, are obviously flawed in some respect.
The real story [or as historically real as anyone knows it] of St. Nikolaus would be way over their head as would be trying to explain the subtle cultural differences between Father Christmas and Pere Noel and good ol' Kris Kringle. Or you could do as any other Christmas loving parent would do and compound the lie with yet another misrepresentation by saying "Santa asked us to keep them, because Rudolph was arrested for flying under the influence of eggnog and he wasn't sure if he would be able to bail him out by the 25th."
While we are on the subject of holidays . . . .Happy Chanukah . . . Explain THAT one to them
Quote:
Originally Posted by wyndslash
This is strange. My battery is draining pretty quickly when I'm not even touching it
That's Christmas. It sucks the energy out of everything.
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The spirit of Christmas is worth sharing if you're talking about love, caring, giving, etc. But the culture of "want" is not.
I don't remember believing in Santa, but my wife does. She also remembers being devastated when she found out he wasn't real, mainly because it hurt her to know her parents had lied to her. I don't blame her. That is very much why our boy will understand Santa to be what he is: a story, make believe, even magic. But that is all.
A friend at work was telling me about the 120+ presents they had at their family gathering, and all i could think about was the dozen or so leaf-bags full of wrapping paper and packaging thrown out after. Makes me sick that we create so much waste for a holiday that has become more about getting than giving. A thin veil of generosity covers what i see as a sickness. A willingness to harm our environment, take take take, and fill our lives with stuff.
Just think if everyone spent that money on education, nutrition, housing, etc. Our world would actually be a better place.
Bah...
Hum...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAtheistReverend
... remembers being devastated when she found out he wasn't real...
This.
But, as someone who once (>.> okay, still ) believed in Jolly Elf, it did at a bit of mysticism to the holidays.
--
Here's something interesting that I read... it was how little lies (santa, easter bunny) prepare kids for larger lies (or other strangely placed trusts [traffic laws, currency]...)...
It was in an interesting read, but I don't know enough to make such grand social commentaries...
i was never that traumatized when i found out santa wasn't real, lol. it was pretty obvious he wasn't, and that dad wasn't good at pretending to be santa
i was never that traumatized when i found out santa wasn't real, lol. it was pretty obvious he wasn't, and that dad wasn't good at pretending to be santa
I have to admit: I love the drunk Santa phenomena, and the mortified child in horrible looking (and probably drunk) Santa's lap pictures.
so the student i was telling you about earlier who missed his make-up emailed me and said that he read the email just then and was asking for a resched. i said no.
We do, just not "for Christmas' sake".
My nephew and niece have gotten savings bonds for years and years. I'm the boring uncle.
This makes me sad.
Hey, that's a Snowshoe! Mine doesn't look that grumpy.
I got disgusted with the greed of I want, I want, and kitsch - How about a popup Santa that pops up from the toilet? They had Santas patrolling the malls and handing out candy without asking parents. It was a bit too much.
Our daughter did know the Christmas story, so we just told her we gave presents in love like the wise men did. We used Befana, and the Spanish Wise Men. We also explained Hanukkah.
Has anybody ever thought about what a messed up story Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is? Because he had a physical defect, the other kids not only laughed at him and called him names, he was ostracized and not allowed to play their reindeer games. Then, when they found a use for his deformity, he was a hero and "then all the reindeer loved him". Wtf kind of story is that for a kid? I'm not sure what the moral of that story is lol.
Has anybody ever thought about what a messed up story Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is? Because he had a physical defect, the other kids not only laughed at him and called him names, he was ostracized and not allowed to play their reindeer games. Then, when they found a use for his deformity, he was a hero and "then all the reindeer loved him". Wtf kind of story is that for a kid? I'm not sure what the moral of that story is lol.
The moral, if I'm not mistaken, is to embrace your differences. You are you, and that is very special. You should never let your differences hinder you from happiness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wyndslash
Fairy taleswere originally violent and for adults too. Everything has a darker meaning if you let it
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gmash
Has anybody ever thought about what a messed up story Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is? Because he had a physical defect, the other kids not only laughed at him and called him names, he was ostracized and not allowed to play their reindeer games. Then, when they found a use for his deformity, he was a hero and "then all the reindeer loved him". Wtf kind of story is that for a kid? I'm not sure what the moral of that story is lol.
It's actually a very accurate allegory for fitting in with the popular kids. Rudolph's sense of self-worth is determined by an extraneous social group. A serendipitous set of circumstances provides him the opportunity to enter their circle and thus achieves his goal.
It's actually a very accurate allegory for fitting in with the popular kids. Rudolph's sense of self-worth is determined by an extraneous social group. A serendipitous set of circumstances provides him the opportunity to enter their circle and thus achieves his goal.
Isn't that how most Disney movies are? Lol. Personally I think it's all a lot of ado about nothing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wyndslash
Fairy taleswere originally violent and for adults too. Everything has a darker meaning if you let it
This was one of the most enjoyable secrets I ever found out as a child. I rushed to read the rest of Hans Christian Anderson's tales. BTW, my father read "The Pit and the Pendulum" to me in bed as a child. No wonder I'm all screwed up!
If you don't know about the origins of some of the most popular fairytales, you should start here:
Lol. I wasn't trying to be that serious about it, but I still think it's messed up. Change it from reindeer to kids. Imagine if a kid had a huge ugly nose and all the kids picked on him and hated him because of it, then his big ugly nose sniffed out a bomb and saved their lives. Now all the kids love him and he's a hero. I'd be like "screw you guys" lol! And they make kids watch this every Christmas.
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I was an outcast still am but I'm old and used to it. I did really want to be the popular kid till I say from the outside looking end that they were truly worse of than me
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