Captain Oblivious

Sure, it sounds silly when you hear that a holiday concert at one public school included Chanukah and regional folk songs but no carols, or that the kibosh was put on a production of "A Christmas Carol" because Tiny Tim's curtain line is "God bless us, every one!" So touchy, onlookers say. Christian onlookers, that is, who never have to worry about feeling like second-class spiritual citizens. Maybe in the future the carols will return, and Tim with his little crutch, too. Maybe someday we will be a country and a culture so accepting of differences that all will feel their traditions are honored.

In the meantime, if the secularized greeting of the perfume spritzer in the department store affects your celebration of the birth in Bethlehem, you've really lost your way. Luckily, for most truly religious people, observing the feast is not about shouting "Merry Christmas" at passersby to show that you believe even if they do not, an exercise in smug superiority disguised as faith. It is an interior process of considering the lessons the child in the manger would teach once grown.

So if people are really worried about keeping Christ in Christmas, they might personally exhibit tolerance and charity, kindness and generosity. It is the ultimate exercise of style over substance to whine about the absence of "O Holy Night" at public events. The real point is in taking the lyrics to heart: "Truly he taught us to love one another/His law is love and his gospel is peace." And if saying "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" offers someone who is not of your faith more comfort and joy—well, 'tis the season for both.