OK, last week I was peeved at our government for outsourcing
production of Canadian Passport covers to a Netherlands-based company, that purported
to be a Canadian company. And this week,
it only gets worse.
Get this. The Toronto District School Board is concerned that
calling “Halloween” Halloween is offensive to some. Huh???
You boneheads.
Nope, I’m not joking.
They’ve sent out a guide, aptly entitled “A Teaching Resource for dealing
with Sensitive Issues in Toronto District School Board Classrooms.”
And if that was not enough, they’re recommending Halloween be renamed “Black and Orange Day”. Utter balderdash and it makes my blood boil. Whether you’re wiccan (I understand they celebrate the holiday), or pagan, (I understand they don’t celebrate anything) or atheist (I understand they don’t believe there is a G_d), Halloween is Halloween – and if you don’t like it --- well --- you can go straight to hell.
And if that was not enough, they’re recommending Halloween be renamed “Black and Orange Day”. Utter balderdash and it makes my blood boil. Whether you’re wiccan (I understand they celebrate the holiday), or pagan, (I understand they don’t celebrate anything) or atheist (I understand they don’t believe there is a G_d), Halloween is Halloween – and if you don’t like it --- well --- you can go straight to hell.
You know what? I am
getting offended at people who’ve got nothing better to do than be easily and permanently
offended at something, anything.
G_d forbid you wish someone “Happy Christmas”, only to find
out they don’t celebrate it, or even worse, call it by a different name. Christmas is almost a curse word now. It’s now “the festive season” (how convenient) and if someone
is not festive at the year-end – well, shame on you for not having known
that.
I am a proud, card-carrying Jew. Always have been. Always will.
I identify myself as such, so
does my wife and kids. I love Israel and believe it belongs to the jews.
I don’t celebrate Halloween. I celebrate Purim, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the like. Halloween’s just not a Jewish concept. And that’s fine, I promise. Halloween’s a fun holiday for those that choose to celebrate it. They dress up. They scream and shout. And they stuff themselves full of candy. It’s harmless fun. What’s the matter with that? Nothing!
I don’t celebrate Halloween. I celebrate Purim, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the like. Halloween’s just not a Jewish concept. And that’s fine, I promise. Halloween’s a fun holiday for those that choose to celebrate it. They dress up. They scream and shout. And they stuff themselves full of candy. It’s harmless fun. What’s the matter with that? Nothing!
A long time ago, a Rabbi told me, “There are different religions,
and each should be allowed to celebrate their religious beliefs in the way in
which they’re accustomed. We’re not all
the same – and although Canada and every other civilized country may be a
melting pot of immigrants, each should hold by their culture.” I could not agree more.
Muslims should celebrate Ramadan. It’s a tenet of Islam. Jews, Passover and all the other
holidays. It’s what keeps us
jewish. Christians, Christmas – and no,
it should still be called “Christmas”, despite what some lunatics say. (Those same lunatics want to ban the nativity scene
--- Pu-leeeaaase!!!) And African-Americans, Kwanzaa. You get the picture!
So, I want to take this moment to wish everyone a Happy
Halloween. And an especially Happy
Halloween if you’re one of those idiots on the Toronto District School Board who
want to call Halloween, “Black and Orange Day”
Oh – and please – don’t razor-blade my candies or egg my
house after you’ve stuffed your mouths full of Halloween candies.
Shalom- if that's not too much to ask!
Shalom- if that's not too much to ask!
2 comments:
As usual, John, you're dead on target.
I haven't a clue what on earth these folks at the TDSB are thinking about (and they're not alone among pedagogical institutions that seem to have WAY too much time on their hands).
In a multi-cultural country like Canada and particularly in the GTA, we should be sensitive to each other's spiritual and secular celebrations - totally agreed!. However, rather than watering down the beauty and distinctiveness of these celebrations to the point of meaninglessness (and therefore offending those for whom these are important), why not bring the tone of the whole thing up?
Why not ensure that all students know and appreciate the special-ness of every celebratory day, and learn to wish others (particularly those who celebrate them, but why not just everyone?). How meaningless would it be if, of a Friday evening or Saturday before sundown, I were to celebrate and venerate your jewishness by saying "Happy Friday/Saturday observance thing". I would rather wish you a Blessed Sabbath, or even better wish you "Shabbat Shalom", which has a richness of meaning and history that goes far beyond those two simple words.
How better to wish my Muslim friends "Eid Mubarak" at the end of Ramada, rather than Happy "Now you can eat normally during the daytime" day. There's so much more to these things, richness and history and memories and family celebrations. Not everything should be painted the same tone of bland grey... sometimes we need brightness, darkness, contrast and different colours to realize what an amazing place this is... and how very LUCKY we are to live in a country so ready to embrace different cultures.
When we take away the mystery and the beauty, and even sometimes the sometimes quirky history of some of these things (yes, yes... everyone knows that a lot of even Christian celebratory events have their scheduling rooted in pagan/pre-christian history... so what? It's been the accepted way for more than 2,000 years that we celebrate the birth of Jesus at the end of a Roman annual festival... it's almost certain that's not when he was actually born).
It's like these TDSB fools are trying to be falling over themselves to ensure that we learn to become sensitive to the beliefs of others (I agree with that bit), but the means and method through which they're trying to do this is by trying to ensure that these same new cultures are sent the message that those who are already here (regardless where they came from) are not equally worthy of the sensitivity and inclusiveness by our newcomers.
Come on! Stop painting the world grey, we'll ultimately lose all semblance of being an inclusive society because idiots like these will be whitewashing everything so it all looks the same. Colour, contrast, brightness, darkness, depth, differences... they make for wonderful photos, and they make for a wonderful Canada, if we can get these Political Correctness fascists to think before they open their mouths.
The sermon is ended. With the blessings of your God, make to each other a sign of peace.
I agree with your point of view, however, I think that your reaction is quite strong...telling people that they can "go straight to hell", was, in my opinion, over the top and not necessary.
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