Perhaps "Happy Holidays" is better after all...

Every year, my Facebook feed is filled with rants about how we are slowly taking the Christ out of Christmas and how we should be able to say "Merry Christmas" because we are the most Christian nation in the world.

But perhaps we should be saying Happy Holidays instead. Not because it might offend someone, but because it makes more sense.

There are four major holidays within three weeks of each other in late December/ early January. Why should we wish good cheer for only one? Simply because we are the most Christian county? Even if that were true, we still shouldn't just say "Merry Christmas."

First: We, as a collective nation, are none more Christian than any other country. While many state and federal laws are more conforming to Judeo-Christian doctrine than the laws of other modern entities, we are none more religious. While 73% of Americans claim to be Christians, only 36% attend church regularly when possible. Also, there is the remaining 27% that is either non-Christian religious, Atheist/Agnostic, or simply unsure. And in a Republic, (Which is not the same as democracy, and we do not live true democracy. We never have.) the majority doesn't over-rule the minority. That's the sort of thing the constitution sought to prevent with the Senate having two representatives from each state regardless of population. But, if we say for a minute that the majority DOES rule, only 9% of all Americans believe that religion is the most important thing in their lives. That's a pretty small minority.

There is also a belief that the Founding Fathers were Christians, celebrated Christmas, and founded America on Christian principles. None of these are true. While the term "Founding Fathers" includes a WIDE group, well over a thousand, we usually think of the Framers, of the men who wrote the constitution and played a major impact on it's creation. Of this group, there are many agnostics, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. While there are several references to God in the DoI and Constitution, none of them specifically refer to a Judean-Christian God. 

As long as we are considering the early years of America and the intentions of the Founding Fathers, you might be surprised to find Christmas wasn't celebrated in Early America. Most Americans wanted nothing to do with anything British, which included the celebration of Christmas. (It's worth noting here than Christmas was more like a New Years back then.) In fact December 25th is nothing Christian at all. It's a pagan holiday that was christianized during the first crusades. The Bible tells us that Christ was born near Passover, which is in April. Most Christmas celebrations, including gifts, lights, and trees, have pagan roots. That doesn't diminish or change the Christian symbolism, but it does put things in a more realistic light. (The same for Easter. It's the same story.)

Finally, why should "Happy Holidays" offend you? It makes more sense. You wouldn't tell me "Happy Hanuka," and I wouldn't tell a Jewish person "Merry Christmas." When I say Happy Holidays, I'm saying "Happy Hanuka if you're Jewish; Merry Christmas if you're Christian; Happy Kwanza if you're Black, and no matter what you are Happy New-years." It's like a shortened URL.  Stop Getting offended when someone says Happy Holidays, because very few are offended by Christmas.

The difference a uniform makes

So, this picture has been circulating through the internet a lot lately. I like the point it makes. (And yes, this guy actually is a real doctor. He's a primary care physician in New York.)

So why do I bring this up? Because I've experienced first hand how this kind of prejudice exists. My entire adult life, I've always worked customer service. AT&T. Food Lion. Chick-Fil-A. Perrine's Produce, and now Jersey Mike's. Anytime I wore my work uniforms outside of work, I was always treated with indifference. A lot of professional workers looked down on me. Sure, they were polite, but they were always slightly condescending. They treated me like a low-life loser. I was like the guy who brings the coffee and makes copies.

Things changed quickly when I put on my UPS uniform. Just from sitting outside eating spaghetti-o's out of the can, as I used to do with my Chick-Fil-A uniform, professionals would actually talk to me as someone on their level.

 "Hot out there, isn't it."
 "Hey man."
 "Busy season yet?"
 "Alright! Lunch time!"

Now, There is some difference between UPS and these other places. I will tell you that UPS is a more professional organization. A lot more professional. There is a true feeling of team spirit. Unity. Common goal. The only other place I've had that is the stock crew and meat department at Food Lion. But UPS is even better.

But I'm still the same person whether I am in my UPS uniform or my Jersey Mike's uniform. I'm still someone scraping to get by, with high goals and huge mountains to cross to get there. I'm still the same person, no matter what I'm wearing.

update

So, I haven't updated in a while. Here's the beef:

I am employed at UPS. I guess this is one thing my dad did do for me, in a round about way. He left a good enough impression there that Greg, the general manager, was willing to put me on as a seasonal driver. It's only for this month, but it gives me a chance to get my foot in the door for the part-time positions in January. This doesn't change my plans for going to med school. I'm not going to do to myself what my dad went through working for them. But this is a huge chance for me to make money. I finally will have more than just enough to pay my bills. I can get back to paying off my hospital bill. I can save up for BYU-I.

Sarah is wonderful. I love her. Yeah, it's gunna be hard when she leaves for her mission, but I'll support her 100%. This will be great for her. I love her and I'll wait as long as I have to wait in order to marry her.

I had some ideas for rants, and I may post them later. We'll see

Deuces!

Geliebte

German is such a cool language. Geliebte. Beloved. Meine Geliebte. My beloved. Sie ist meine Geliebte. She is my beloved.
I haven't written on here in a while, and something amazing has happened in that while: My faith in the YSA program has been restored by Sarah. (Isn't she beautiful?) She and I met at a YSA dance. We talked the Sunday afterwards. We haven't stopped talking since. She's absolutely an amazing woman. She's a Chemistry Major at USF. She's super smart, really nerdy, and uber amazing. It's as if everything I've ever looked for was all rolled into one person. Even small things that I like but aren't that important are there. (Like the fact that she is a Gator. Wait, nevermind, that's a MUST!) She feels the same way as me on a LOT (almost all) subjects, she's politically active, plays guitar, writes poetry and she is fluent in ASL. (Check out this video of her doing some ASL. I love it. That's my nerdy girl.) She lives in Tampa, so we really aren't able to spend a whole lot of time together. Thankfully we have skype. She and I have been skyping EVERY night for the past several days. For several hours, actually. (We just got off skype as I started to write this post.) I'm heading over to the Tampa Institute dance, except once I get there she and I are gunna bug out and go get some dinner. And she's planning on coming over here the following Saturday. We've got some plans to hit up a few places around here. I've been longing for someone, even just a good close friend. I've finally got it, and I couldn't have asked for a better gal. I feel so blessed to have her in my life. She's been such a good friend already, and she's already done a lot to help me. She really does feel like the missing piece of the puzzle. She's such a great fit. We've got a few kinks to work out, like the fact that I'm going to be moving to Rexburg in April, but I know we've got what it takes to make it. So, a few posts ago I said my friends were eating steak while I had hamburger? Well I certainly don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel like I would change anything about us, her, or the path she took to become who she is. I love her.

Heart-to-heart

I haven't posted in FOREVER on here.
hmm

time for a new blog


So, in my last post I talked about how KD and I have had a falling out.

Well, we've seemed to patch things up. Last night she and I had a long heart-to-heart talk. It turns out she's kinda been waiting for a missionary. Really explains things. We sat/layed on her car for about 2 hours talking. We talked about life, our futures, etc. Afterwards, we went to Wendy's.

Other than that, lifes been rather bland. Work. Sleep. FHE. Church. Institute.

Oh, and I have a crush on both sister missionaries in my ward right now, more so on Sister Dunford. She likes me. I guess it's alright. She wants to go out to BYU-I when she is done with her mission, so we'll see how things work out.


Here're some MEMEs to brighten your day.

unsure this stuff

I'm not really sure exactly what this post is about. I'm writing it anyways. I should note my typing may be off. I just had a very long practice session on the guitar so my fingertips don't feel very good right now.

I guess I'm just frustrated with so many things right now. It's not that life is necessarily bad right now, but it's not enjoyable. I'm watching little things happen that drive me nuts.

I'm getting tired of being single. I've never actually felt this kind of loneliness before. Sure, when my depression was uncontrolled I felt friendless, but this is different. I'm starting to feel jealously towards my friends who are in relationships/ getting married. I want to be happy for them, but at the same time thinking of what they have has only made me realize I don't have it. I don't know if this is normal or not; I've never felt this kind of emotion. And it's not that I'm not happy, but I feel like I'm eating hamburger while my friends are eating steak. Part of this I think come from the fact that I never thought I'd be like this 7 years ago. When I was in high school, I was convinced I'd be married, or at least in a serious relationship by now. Never did I think I'd be single, living in poverty, not in college and working a dead-end job at 23. I have plans to go to college in the near future, and I am working on polishing the details of my long-term plans, but it feels still so distant and dream-like. Maybe when I actually get close to leaving it'll set in.

Brother Messner has pissed me off a lot lately. I'm sure he thinks he's doing a good thing by criticizing me and all, but he doesn't know what he's talking about half the time and I don't wanna hear it.



I'm just... tired of it all.

Lessons on perseverance from two of my favorite sports teams.

Let's face it: the Florida Gators are playing more like a high school JV team than a 3-time national championship team from the SEC. (And yes, the SEC is the best conference in college football.) Well, today they opened conference play against Texas A&M. This is Texas A&M's first conference game in the SEC, first game ever after joining the SEC, and first game ever against Florida. The game started off looking like a typical SEC defensive slug-fest: it took TAM almost 5 minutes to march the field, and they only came away with a field goal. As son as Florida's offense to the field, they lit up TAM like a cheap firework show. Then, Florida started to suck. Florida could not contain TAM's offense, and they never made it back into TAM's side of the field. They ended the first half down 17-7, with less than 100 yards total offense. The game was completely different in the second half. TAM had ZERO total yards offense in the 3rd quarter, and Florida outscored TAM 13-0 to win, finishing with 280 total yards offense. (Okay, 280 is nothing to brag about, but we won, and that's what matters.)

Then, tonight was the final NASCAR race before "the chase" ( NASCAR's playoffs) begin next Sunday. (Click here to learn about how "the chase" works.) Well, Jeff Gordon, who's been my favorite driver since I was 7, was 12 points behind Kyle Bush for the 2nd Wild Card position. This means he has to finish 13 spots ahead of Kyle Bush to make the chase. Jeff started 2nd and led the first 2 laps of the race. Then, his car just bit it. He was running some of the slowest lap times of the field and his car did not handle properly. His team tried and tried and tried to fix whatever it was but didn't make any difference. At lap 192 (of 400) he was 1 lap down (meaning he had been passed by the leader once) and in 25th, while Kyle Bush was in the top 10. After a short rain delay in lap 193, Jeff's crew did something (probably a sacrifice to the NASCAR Gods) and all of sudden Jeff had the fastest car on the track. He got his lap back, drove his way all the way around to 4th, fell back to 12th and a lap down again after pitting, made up that lap too and finished 2nd. Kyle Bush finished 15th. He is now in the NASCAR playoffs again, and he has a chance to win his 5th championship. 

In other news, K-Med is not mortal. His guy can toss a baseball. He and the Atlanta Braves (My favorite Baseball Team) whooped the NY Mets 11-3. 

It's been a wonderful day in the world of athletics.