The Forgotten Meaning Of Christmas.

I see it all from above, like a Zeus from Mt. Olympus. I read the blogs, listen to the radio, read the magazines, and see the thoughts of others. Now, like Zeus from Olympus, I loudly make a decree: QUIT YOUR PETTY BICKERING AND GROW UP!

Christmas isn't about getting the biggest and best toys. Christmas isn't about displays built two weeks before Halloween. Christmas isn't about millions of people behaving like Pavlov's dogs in the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas isn't about attempting to marginalize non-Christians in our society. Christmas isn't about fighting a war on the holiday itself where Christians feel threatened by ghostly enemies of the holiday.

Once you get all the materialistic, political, and religious threads out of the great debate it boils down to this: Christmas is a time to be better to others. Christmas is a time to remember the truly important things: your family, your friends, the fact that others likely have it for worse than you. No matter how much you wish to argue with your spouse or significant other, others have no one to even think of them. Your job may stink, yet so many have no jobs to pay their bills. Your selfish kids are pissed because you didn't get the XBox 360 for their gift, yet some children don't have parents of any kind.

Christmas should be a time to pause and reflect upon life. A time to be thankful for the good things in your life. A time to see if you can make the world a better place than it is now. You can't invent world peace or cure hunger, but can you give a few quarters to the Salvation Army? Can you give an old friend a phone call to see how he is doing? Can you give a back rub to your lover as he ponders how to pay all the bills? Will you read to your child on the weekends instead of watching the next football game?

We're not perfect as human beings. Yet I feel Christmas is a time to remind us to be better than what we are now. That is what the Christmas spirit should be. To those who are afraid or offended by someone saying, "Merry Christmas," to you what are you so afraid of? Is a message of peace and improvement so offensive?

Unlike Zeus I can't will the world to function properly. I can wish everyone a Merry Christmas. With that wish I hope we ponder the things we are thankful for. With that wish I hope we look within ourselves to make the world a slightly better place tomorrow than it is today. Merry Christmas indeed.