It’s that time of year again. Religions across the globe are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, which all fall next to each other in December! Seeing as America is a culturally diverse country, all those who celebrate these holidays seem to conflict. It’s almost like a celebratory war of offended people.
On one hand you have people who are mad that most places don’t say “Merry Christmas!” On the other hand, you have people who are upset that some places do say “Merry Christmas!” Don’t think that it’s just people who follow a religion who are apart of this, Atheists as well claim to be offended by places that do say “Merry Christmas!”
You can see how this entire ‘debate’ is contradictory to the spirit of all these holidays. These holidays wish to preach happiness, but this fuss causes everything but. The way it goes is usually someone will wish another human being “Merry Christmas,” and then that person will eventually complain about it later on their blog or Facebook. It’s all so pointless; people should just appreciate the fact that somebody took the time to spread good wishes.
The issue is that some people feel personally offended, whereas two people who know or respect each other, say a Christian and a Jewish person, they’ll typically say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah.” Since some people find it in themselves to feel that they’re against the world, they make a big deal out of it. Now we have an unspoken policy in our world not to offend anyone, so we have the term “Happy Holidays.” You can see this in the way businesses conduct themselves around the holidays, like Starbucks or Wal-Mart. This is seen in how they stay neutral, using the term “Happy Holidays.”

Since we, as Americans, are an opinionated bunch, this controversy has now become common knowledge. A quick scroll through a Facebook dashboard and you’ll see hundreds of posts from people with their opinions on the matter, like the red Starbucks cup, each one less original than the last. It becomes unbearable to even read, and sometimes becomes incoherent. A good example of this is the dull-minded rants about making poor underpaid Starbucks employees write Merry Christmas on their cups, or how Dunkin’s cup is better because it is green and red and says “Joy.” These people dislike anyone who doesn’t appreciate a good ol’ “Merry Christmas!” They seem not to understand, however, that we must recognize all cultures and both people who do and do not celebrate Christmas.
However, despite all this, some people choose to ignore it, and rightfully so. The world has always been this way. Controversies have usually been handled the same, and in time, it will go away. The integrity of the holidays shall never be muddied; people will go on about their day and enjoy their festivities.
The moral of the story is, don’t be that guy who is angry about somebody greeting you with a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Joyous Kwanzaa, or a neutral Happy Holiday. Just smile and say, “ Thank you! You, too!”