Christmas with a Capital "C"

Don't say “Merry Christmas;” it might offend someone. It is beyond me that in America, land of the free and home of the brave, where we hold religious freedom and freedom of speech with a holy grip there could be a movement to deny us the right to say a simple Merry Christmas. The naysayers are especially critical if it is used in public advertising. At the same time it is okay to use the sluttiest language on the radio and television but God forbid that anyone wish anyone else a Merry Christmas.

Most of you have heard the song, “One Solitary Life.” It tells about a man who was born in a stable, served as a lowly carpenter until he was in his 30s. He then became an itinerant preacher with only 12 followers and one of them was a crook. He never wrote a book, owned a house, married or had children. His only fame came when he made a blind man to see and a lame man to walk. He made the six o'clock news when he raised a friend from the dead. He lived over two thousands years ago, but today he is one of the leading figures in the history of mankind. It seems only reasonable that the world would celebrate the birth of such a man even if all that was known of him was that he was a healer and a great teacher.

Around the world we find Merry Christmas in every tongue. In Norway: God Jul; in Portugal: Feliz Nadal; in Thailand: Sawadee Pee Mai; in Ukraine: Strozhdestvom Kristovym; in Hawaii: Mele Kalikamaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Even the dictionaries of the world agree that the very meaning of Christmas is “a celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.”

For 2000 years men of goodwill have taken the time to recognize the fact of the life of Jesus Christ. Even His enemies have recognized the season of His birth. The two years we lived in Turkey our friend Ali Ghengis Doulonay brought us a Christmas tree for our apartment. The sweetest stories in the world's literature center around the coming of the Christ. Lew Wallace brought the man from Galilee to life in his epic novel Ben Hur. His book became second only to the Bible as the best selling book in the world. Even today we thrill at the great chariot race as Judah Ben Hur defeats Messala, his boyhood friend turned enemy, in the arena.

When we were children, in a simpler time, we were recovering from a greater depression than any today and fighting a two-ocean war but we still found time to gather around a Christmas tree and sing Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright . . . now the politically correct crew would take that away from us, too.

Well, not from me, friend. I am dreaming of Christmas, just like the ones I have known for a lifetime. You may have your Happy Holidays but I will keep my Christmas with a Capitol C.