A modest proposal...

Following the politically correct logic of certain stores and businesses removing the word "Christmas" from their greetings in recent years and using the generic "Happy Holidays" or worse, "Happy Winter," perhaps we should extend such "courtesy" for other holidays throughout the year. In particular, I'm thinking of Halloween.

Yes, if I'm going to be home on October 31, I suppose I buy some candy in advance, to appease the racketeering little rugrats that come to my door, lest they shower me with rotten eggs and mark up my windows with soap. However, I realized that I hadn't really celebrated Halloween myself in a number of years, so why should I let people greet me with "Happy Halloween" in their stores? Isn't it insensitive of them toward me, as part of the probably 2% or so of the population who doesn't celebrate this holiday?

And what about the Catholics who are celebrating All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2? And as a protestant, what if I want to celebrate Reformation Day (I did post a blog about it this year) on October 31? And what about the religious groups who offer "Fall Festivals" as alternatives to Halloween? Isn't it insensitive to all of us celebrating other holidays to only highlight All Hallows Eve? And isn't Thanksgiving just right around the corner, three weeks later?

Therefore I would propose that around October, all businesses such as Wal-Mart, Target, The Gap, et al., would only decorate their stores with things such as generic pumpkins, cornucopias, fall-colored leaves, and perhaps scarecrows (but these are iffy unless they're not scary scarecrows). So as not to offend those celebrating the other days, may I suggest the greetings "HAPPY FALL HOLIDAYS!" and "HAPPY OCTOBER-NOVEMBER!"

Related Reading:
- Has It Come to This? Christmas in the U. S.
- Invasion of the Secular Snowmen