'Tis the season to be grouchy ...
I HATE Christmas -- actually, I dislike just the secular aspect of it. To me, Christmas represents all that is wrong with this world: greed, materialism, hypocrisy and much more. I don't understand why people fall for all the marketing techniques businesses barrage consumers with. Christmas, which was once a religious holiday, has been perverted into a corporate scheme and just another day to get presents because, after all, one's birthday doesn't seem to be enough.
Most of my friends have asked what I want for Christmas. "I want everyone who isn't Christian to stop celebrating it," I think in my head. In actuality, I just tell them, "You don't have to get me anything, but if you want to, I can't stop you. But, please, just don't get me anything."
Despite my request, two have given me gifts and one more says she has one on the way. However, there are many who get others as many gifts as possible, hoping for a gift in return. Others give gifts simply because it's expected of them. The greed stemming from everyone's supposedly good nature and holiday spirit is nauseating. Besides, I don't understand why everyone has to be nice at this time of year. People should be this benevolent and caring all year, not just during the holiday season.
WE'VE ALL gotten presents on our birthdays, but that doesn't seem to be enough. That's why so many kids look forward to Christmas -- their submissive parents will spend more money than needed on them. They'll get that new toy they've been eyeing, only to get bored with it later. It's not just little kids, but also teenagers and even adults. A friend of mine, after my annual Christmas rants and raves, actually said, "I don't like Christmas either -- except for the presents." That just shows what secular Christmas is all about.
Everywhere I go -- Internet message boards, school and even among my own group of friends -- everyone seems to enjoy insulting Christians and their beliefs. Being a nondenominational Christian, I find this extremely offensive and unfair. Yet they all seem to celebrate Christmas, which is a Christian holiday, a religion they claim to detest. If they hate Christianity and anything related to it and hate the fact that "under God" is in the Pledge of Allegiance, they should hate Christmas as well. In fact, Christmas goes against the separation of church and state, perhaps more so than the Pledge of Allegiance: We all leave work and school to go on "holiday" and "winter" breaks ... for Christmas. This season displays the worst bouts of hypocrisy most people have to offer.
PERHAPS I'm just pessimistic and bitter, but I will always hate what the world has done to Christmas. This sacred holiday, distorted by everyone's greed and lust for more things despite going against their own claims, has become meaningless. I refuse to be jolly. I refuse to be merry, and I most definitely refuse to get presents. I feel that the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge are the best Christmas characters ever thought up -- that is, until they, too, were persuaded to join the legions and hordes who mindlessly celebrate Christmas -- what failures.
I, however, stick to my word and I always will. In short, many people don't and will never agree with me, so I will use an analogy that will make the celebration of Christmas by non-Christians more apparent: It is like a Jew fasting during Ramadan simply for the holiday of Eid ul-Fitr at the end, hoping for an elaborate feast and new clothes.
Deborah Nam is a junior at Moanalua High School.