By Barbara Morris
This year I have heard numerous complaints against those who extend the greeting “Happy Holidays,” which I often use to neighbors known to me to celebrate their own holiday – not Christmas (or Christmass, as Bishop Aubrey Bougher of Rosedale's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Christ would prefer). If I am uncertain about someone's preference, I see no harm or disrespect to my faith to say “Happy Holidays.”I admit, though, I find reference to my holiday as “Xmas” or “the C Day” ridiculous. I also find myself wishing performers who choose to add sacred music to their repertoire would sing or play it as it is written instead of changing the words or music to get a laugh or display their own inventive prowess. If you don't like the way something is written, write your own music! You may have guessed that I feel there is, all too often, a lack of respect and understanding for what is important to someone else. I have, in fact, confessed to you, above, some of my own. I have more. Regular readers of this column know I believe laws are made to make things better. When people persist in deliberately breaking our laws, I cannot understand those who will invariably make excuses for them.Don't we, as children, learn the correct way to do something by having someone correct us? Possibly, some youngsters are never taught properly and thus continue to try to make their own rules and may even “get away with them” at least for a while, and then when caught doing something wrong, can't deal with the consequences alone.We hear that we, as a community, are supposed to be guiding each other and all of the young here. If you pick up some of the suggestive, or worse, fliers that are sometimes scattered in our communities, don't make excuses for them as harmless. Turn them over to the police for investigation. You may help prevent someone from getting hurt or worse. We don't need kinky sex ads thrown around in our area to educate children. Littering-any kind-degrades a community, but some of the ads for sex clubs or albums are likely to do very real harm.As this is being written, I can only hope that by this time next year, things will be better for everyone. Starting with Thanksgiving, it would be wonderful if we could all remember wonderful times past, greet each other with the goodwill we shared all year and congratulate each other on the improvements we have made to ourselves and to our part of the world. May the New Year bring the world and you many blessings.
