Minoltas and Holiday Trees I started to read today about how an airport in Seattle took down its Christmas Trees because a Rabbi had requested to put up a Hanukkah menorah also. Now, I must note right away that the rabbi in question, it is reported, did not request that the trees be taken down; rather the rabbi's lawyers threatened lawsuits unless the airport complied. The airport then took the trees down to avoid said lawsuits while considering the appropriate action. I have no beef with anyone requesting a public display of their religion. I have a beef with demanding that other religions displays be taken down. In this case, it appears I have no beef with anyone but the lawyers. However, the ACLU rears it's ugly head, because airports and government money get involved. Now, I like the "traditional" holiday symbols -- I grew up with Christmas lights and Christmas trees and the occasional Christmas beating like most Americans. I don't know what it is like to be Jewish and not see my symbols displayed publicly. I imagine I might ask my parents why we don't celebrate Christmas when everyone else does. I imagine the explanation to a 5 or 6 year old mind might do nothing more than make me feel somehow different from my neighbors. To a 5 or 6 year old mind, being different is often synonymous with bad or worse. For instance, when I was a child, my mother told me that my brother had dyslexia and needed to stay back a grade. To make things easier for my brother, she made me stay back a grade also. This made it clear that not only was different bad, but that people who were different were also very bad for me as well. Fortunately I did not learn to hate everyone who was different. Only my brother. But I digress. To me, Christmas was a set of decorations and a time when family visited. It was not an overly religious experience. Therefore, I have huge problems with the ACLU demanding the re-branding of Christmas celebrations, such as re-naming San Diego's "Christmas Nights" in Balboa park to "Winter Nights" (along with the removal of any Christmas paraphernalia). Why can't I enjoy "Christmas Nights" and hearken back to my childhood when the beatings were fewer and my brother was forcibly made to stop torturing me? The familiar symbology of the Christmas decor reminds me of happier times. Do Jewish boys and girls, who celebrated the same winter break as us not remember late December with a similar fondness? Or do they remember the way it made them feel different? I remember spending several "Christmas" holidays as a child at one of my parents Jewish friend's house -- we played "Driedel" with their kids, and I remember asking about the spinning top, and what the mystic runes etched on it meant. There was no religious significance to me for that either, but I remember golden chocolate coins, so that was pretty cool. The important point here is that we played "dreidel" in they exact same way we might have played monopoly. We were kids, we played and rarely did we sue or kill each other over theology. More and more today it seems we as a society of lawyers are killing "Christmas" because of Christ, rather than simply decorating the tree with menorahs. Tradition has its place in society. Christianity has traditions, Judaism has them, Catholicism, Islam and even McDonald's has traditions. At some point, someone has got to stop the insanity and let the traditions be. So what if San Diego always had a celebration called "Christmas Nights", and it displayed Christmas trees? It's ridiculous to change that. It's unfair to me, because it robs me of my childhood. Why not just have another celebration called "Hanukkah Nights"? It can even be in the same park next to the "Christmas Nights". What's wrong with that? Now, as I wrote this stream-of-consciousness blog, I did not at all know that I was going to wind up making the next argument. I started with the intent to say, "let traditions be". There is really nothing wrong with Christmas trees, and what for most adults is simply an opportunity to remember their childhood and watch their children bask in the magic as they did some 40 years ago. But the fault I find in my own reasoning is the very accepting way I suggest "let them have their own celebration", a thought that exemplifies the very divisiveness in our society that led to the Rodney King riots and the fast-food wars. Balboa park in San Diego hosts the "Winter Nights" celebration now. Rather than focus on how the name was changed in the name of "diversity," perhaps we should focus on the fact that the celebration still happens. We can still go and see the magic. Perhaps we miss old traditions because we ourselves are old, but the fact is, things change. Even traditions.