>I'll try to put it another way. People like to be known,
>recognized and respected for who they are. To use a very
>simple example, if my birthday is in March, and you say "Happy
>Birthday" to me in September, I may not be offended, but you
>are demonstrating to me that you have no idea when my birthday
>is. If the person is close to you, (i.e. your mother
), you
>might even be hurt. As NY25 said, I guess I think it's just
>polite to acknowledge another human being for who they are.
>
>And Michele, when you say "I celebrate Christmas so I send
>Christmas cards", it makes no sense to me. According to that
>logic, you should send everyone a birthday card on your
>birthday.
>
>Nancy
Nancy, I completely agree with you. But reading through this post I think the problem may be in what people hope to express when they send out holiday cards of any sort.
To me, I try to tailor the card (or the gift) to the person I am giving to - Hannukah cards to Jewish friends, Christmas cards to Christians, Happy Holidays to agnostics-like-me or not-sure, whatever. To others, it appears they are announcing to the world the joy they feel in their Christianity.
I was taught as a child, and I still believe, that the kind, loving thing to do in life is to try to choose gifts and cards that suit the other person, that other people would like. Therefore, I do not give candy to my dieting friends, and I do not give diet books to my go-for-the-gusto-and-who-cares-about-the-calories friends. To me that would be rude. And to me, to send a card saying, basically, "Let's celebrate the birth of Jesus!!!" to friends who are not Christian, would be equally rude.
For example, what if I told my husband I REALLY REALLY wanted some Cathe dvds for Christmas. And what if he gave me a bunch of John Wayne movies, because to him John Wayne movies are the ultimate in entertainment. And then, when I expressed my disappointment, what if he said "But honey I LOVE JOHN WAYNE movies!!! What's your problem??????. Why are you attacking my JOHN WAYNE MOVIES?!!?!??" Wouldn't be a very loving gesture.
BTW, I would have no problem whatsoever celebrating Irish Cultural Holiday Day (would that involve green beer like St. Paddy's day?), Armenian Cultural Holiday Day, or whatever. Those who don't want to celebrate those days could abstain, but I just feel like some right-wing Christians (not directed at anyone on this forum) want to make a bunch of rules so that only Christianity, and only Christian holidays, are legitimate, and to me that is not what America is about at all.