Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays...

...whatever might be your salutation of choice. I have a few friends to whom I'm not always sure what to say, but they're generally non-confrontational enough that it doesn't really matter (because we're friends, isn't that the point?) It always seems to be a big issue in the media around here every year, letters to the editor and columnists weighing in. I can recall attending a Guiding District meeting (years ago, when I was actually still a leader not a "member at large" or hanger-on or whatever I'm classified as now), where one of the Brownie leaders was complaining that she couldn't do any Christmas stuff with her unit because she had a number of Jewish girls in the group - another Brownie leader from a different unit piped up that her solution was that they did Christmas stuff in the spirit of learning about it (rather than forcing it down others' throats), and they invited some of the Jewish moms to come in and do Hanukkah stuff as well, as a learning experience for all. I thought that was a brilliant solution, including everyone rather than ignoring what is important to people for the sake of trying not to offend others. Just because I wish you "Merry Christmas" doesn't mean I'm trying to convert you to Christianity against your will (which is ludicrous anyway, seeing as I'm really not religious) - it just means I want to give you good wishes for this season.

I couldn't help thinking of the song The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams (album = Mortal City), that I first heard years ago when she played at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (I think I'll have to start going to that again, BTW - lots of good times, good music, and very broad definition of folk music). It's a humorous song, with a good message for this time of year:

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, and
Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.

On an unrelated note, I was chatting with someone the other day, who asked if I was freaked out by something that was said ... I replied that because of all the crazy things I've seen and heard in my job, nothing really freaks me out anymore, but I had forgotten about this, so I guess I was wrong. Some friends who live in Spruce Grove were talking about this case last week at dinner, how there were lots of rumours but no one ever did anything, how all the students thought this teacher was the greatest (and perhaps still do) ... how could anyone abuse their position of power so enormously?

"He was extremely well liked, he was an excellent teacher and a lot was overlooked because of his excellent personality," the mother of his older victim said Tuesday.

Colby Cosh points out how overuse of the tradition of flying a flag at half-mast has "ruined the ceremonious pleasure of the flag for everyone", with which I would agree.

And still more off-topic, Andrew Coyne is blogging again - hooray!