My beliefs are… unusual… but regardless of whether or not I’m a Christian or not doesn’t matter at this point – Merry Christmas is a sentiment meant to convey best wishes on the birthing day of a very important, but not necessarily proven, personage.
This is the time of year to remember the teachings, rather than what certain portions of the religion want everyone to believe are the ‘True Facts’. In the text, it basically tells you to try to be a good person, to not judge people based on what you see or think you know, to try and be kind no matter what.
To me, that is the important message behind Christmas, not whether or not it’s a birthday based on a ‘real’ person, but what someone thought was a good idea. I think it’s important, especially in our current economy, to be as kind as possible to everyone because pretty much everyone is in the same boat.
As a neat aside – there’s been a whole ration of people paying off layaways for strangers in places like wal-mart and k-mart. How ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Those kinds of random acts of kindness make me think maybe we’re evolving as a race. And if I had the extra money, I’d do it, too, because I know most charities spend half the funds given to them on administrative fees – in the case of paying someone’s layaway, or paying for the person behind you’s groceries, you pretty much know where your kindness is going, and you know it’s going to who you intended it to go to. And even better – it’s going into your own community, helping to boost someone who may just need a helping hand up out of a bit of a tough spot.
I love random acts of kindness!