Collegiate Times

As we all begin to get into the spirit of the season, chances are most of us will once again fall into the same annoying fallacy that dominates our minds this time of year. Whether it’s courtesy in the checkout line or a last farewell to a professor, many of us tend to leave with the words, “merry Christmas.” There are reasons for this. Modern culture has certainly taken hold of our conception of Christmas — whether that is for the better or worse depends on your viewpoint.

Many atheists and agnostics celebrate the Christmas season by focusing on the secular aspects — family dinners, seeing old friends and renewing our thanks through charity. These are certainly good things; poverty-stricken children do not care about the religion of the people whose kindness helps put food on their table. It is somewhat ironic, however, that so many gestures wishing others a merry Christmas often ignore the more important part of the exchange: what holiday the other person celebrates.

During the Christmases of yesteryear, I often wished many a stranger a “merry Christmas,” in part out of frustration in seeing the phrase nearly become taboo. In “Tech community spirit overshadows tragedies” (CT, Dec. 8), I even committed the same fallacy in ending by wishing the state trooper who had pulled me over a merry Christmas. I have no clue what and how he chooses to celebrate; I instead projected my own beliefs and culture onto him. While it’s certainly not the worst thing I’ve ever done, I can understand the frustration of others that stems from this. The thought had crossed my mind earlier this week to respond to any merry Christmas wishes from strangers with a “happy Hanukkah,” in spite of the fact that I am a Catholic. Or maybe, “happy Festivus.” Either way, it should get the point across that while the majority of Americans are Christians, there are many Jews, Muslims, Hindus and atheists, all of whom celebrate their own holidays.

In anticipation of being denounced as a “secular humanist liberal atheist,” I would like to redirect those people back to my earlier disclaimer; this is certainly not an egregious offense. I recoil at the thought of being identified with the “religion Nazis,” as one might call them, who challenged the legality of a child presenting the Bible during show-and-tell as his favorite book.

Perhaps our persistence in delivering politesses reflecting our own values says something about our minds. I’d be willing to wager I could find the paper of an ethics professor exploring the role of egocentrism in how we share holiday cheer. Still, I wouldn’t go that far. We may be a very egocentric culture and even species, but the secular, cultural role of Christmas is likely more at work here.

It seems more likely to me, though, that we really see the true reason for our casual seasonal greetings on January 2nd. When the celebration ends, there is always a refreshed, rejuvenated feeling in the hearts of most people. Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza as a cultural device are simply just another way to elicit the goodwill toward men that this world can always use a reminder of.