Last December, my business, www.truetip.com, sent out what I thought was a cheerful and well-intentioned email to our customers. The email’s main message was that the people at the company wish you “Happy Holidays”. Quite aware that not all of our customers celebrate all or any of the holy days, but assuming that New Year’s which is called a holiday on every calendar that I could find, I figured that I was going to be politcally correct and anger no one. I was wrong.
Not long after the happy greeting went out, an angered recipient wrote back to tell us that it is Christmas. Okay, sure, ya, it is Christmas-time but let’s not alienate the rest of the non-Christian world or the African-American population or anyone celebrating a start to a new year. I’m not sure what holiday greeting would have pleased her or held back her bitterness.
If it is Christmas shouldn’t you be kinder, more compassionate, and self-aware than to go to the trouble of spewing venom on others? She took what was an innocuous and common phrase, Happy Holidays, and interpreted it as a dilution of the event. I don’t see it that way.
If there is anyone who diluted Christmas, it was the retail industry a long-time ago. Whether you are a Christian or not consider this:
- Maybe it’s not about the gifts.
- Giving of time, assistance, and being there for others is the best gift anyone can give.
- Kindness can be contagious.
- Changing and improving the world starts with one person.
- The ability to make life better for us all is to realize that we need to synchronize saying and doing the right thing.
Happy Holidays!
