Enjoy:
Bill activated his cabin’s door allowing Dora to come in. She had just interrupted him by asking though the door’s intercom if she could come in for a moment. He should have turned the intercom off signifying that he didn’t want any company, but even though busy he still didn’t want to be rude. His cabin smelled of cinnamon and pine trees-that last was fake but it still smelled realistic he knew for his hometown had plenty of real pine trees.
He rolled his chair back to his desk and started working on his computer again. She came in and the door closed. The louder vibrations of the engines quieted; it ha dtaken him weeks to get used that hum, and vibration the drives produced but now he wondered if he would miss when he went ome.
Surprise filled his thoughts that Dora would come here. After all he kept his cabin three degrees hotter than hers and she didn’t like it. It must be important. After the moment it took her walk to him, Dora started speaking about a certain project him, her and few others were working on together. It was an after hours project that the Freighter-liner company they worked for encouraged its interns to do. If they finished it before the New Year-ship time-they would provided with a praty, and if it worked as it should, the finish report would be a good mark on their files. They didn’t get paid as interns, but everything, which included food and a party or two, was provided.
He was listening with one ear however since he was trying to finish a private project. He suddenly raised his head knowing she had just said something different in a different tone of voice. He had not caught what she had said.
She repeated herself in a louder voice, “I said, What is that?”
He somewhat confused said, “It is a series of e-cards I’m working on.”
She said, “Not that! I mean that in your corner?”
He turned to look at what she was pointing at. Her accusing finger was aimed at something that sat in the opposite corner from the entertaining-work desk. The object was four feet three inches tall and was two and a half feet wide at its widest. That widest part was about one-fourth of the way up from the bottom. The wide part looked like a skirt and was made up of branches that came out from the center pole. All of the branches, from the skirt to the top were green, while the center pole was brown. Below the bottom of the skirt one could see the skinny pole that made up the center. The skirt narrowed as it went up until very near the top it was one and a half feet wide. From that point it sloped inward finally forming a thick needle three inches long. He had decorated it with two multicolored light cables and various round globe looking items as well as what looked like upside down Js painted alternately red and white.
He turned back to his work and off handily said, “That is my Christmas tree. I had Jorge in engineering, fix it up for me. Its not as nice looking as a real one, but its not that bad. You must have seen some before.”
She said, “Yes, I have seen Christmas trees, but I never expected to see one here. If someone who is of another religion, or an atheist sees that they might be offended. This is a public place with people from diverse backgrounds.”
He turned to face her and said, “Huh? What are talking about?”
She said, “This is a place of diversity. You know people from many diverse backgrounds work here and are passengers on this ship. They could very well be offended that you are displaying items from for a religious observance from one religion.”
He blinked and looked confused and said, “Christmas is still the largest event on the earth and most colonies, and even a couple of space habitats celebrate it to some degree or another. People would know what holiday that tree represents, even if it is fake.”
She said, "Yes, but some people will be offended so you should take it down. This is a public place, as I said. If you don’t, I will place a complaint. They will force you to take it down.”
He somewhat angrily replied, “Hey. This is not a public hallway. People have to be allowed though that door to come in here. Now if this was out in the passageway, that would be different. Even though this would still be about Christmas; a harmless celebration that even many non-Christians celebrate. You can place a complaint if you want to, but they will most probably not be able to do any thing about even if they wanted to. Time after time, the courts have declared that these living cabins are not public ground. They are the same as a private house, or even an apartment. So that means that I can do most anything in here in the way of decorations and celebrations. If someone is that offended they do not have to come in here. They are the ones that should be put out not me. Besides if they are that offended they should go to a sensitivity training seminar so they can learn not to be offended by the expression of someone’s private beliefs”
She blinked at his use of the term “sensitivity training seminar”, but after a second she said, “That may be so, but you should still not offend someone of a minority religion. If you do not take that down I will boycott this cabin until you do. Many internet and brick stores have stopped wishing people a Merry Christmas.”
He again said, “Huh?” Thinking he was being very intelligent with his responses this evening--not. But this had taken him by surprise. Maybe if he ate some of the Christmas fudge his blood sugar would rise and help him to think faster. If he offered her some, it might make her feel less antagonistic but he doubted it since she had a rad-gas pressure building and while good, it wasn’t the best fudge.
She answered by saying, “I’ll leave and not enter this room as long as you have that thing up”
He looked at her for a while before he suddenly turned and started typing again.
He said, “If that is what you feel, you must do what you feel like is right,”
After a moment he reached over and pressed the door button then continued, “The door is activated. You can leave and we can discuss our project though the door, or at your room. Christmas is a diverse celebration, it is made up of traditions from various cultures and people of many backgrounds celebrate it. Perhaps you should go a sensitivity training seminar. I can get you in one over the intergalactic net. And any stores that reject the term Merry Christmas is in danger of offending a lot more people by not doing it. More money is spent at Christmas time for Christmas presents and decorations then any other time of the year. People buy Christmas presents not Holiday presents.
“One last statement, only a small handful or people do not celebrate some form of Christmas, of those it’s only a small share that would be offended...more people are offended by businesses not doing it for that reason.”
She said something that sounded like hmmfff, and started toward the door.
He said as she did, “Or we could go too your cabin and study the rainbow symbols you have on display, but don’t forget they are a Christian symbol also. Rainbows are in the Old and New Testaments.”
She went out the door and he went back to work on the new computer game he was fine tuning.
He said to himself, “And that tree isn’t even a real one. Maybe I should have called it a Holiday tree but it isn’t, there’s no such thing as a holiday tree...with a shake of his head he added, “boy what some people will choose to be offended over. ”
The end
Here is my letter to the editor published by my local paper a couple of years ago along with some comments:
Wishing people a Merry Christmas and how there is no harm in it even if someone doesn’t appreciate it. I also discuss Christmas being more inclusive than Politically Correct liberals want to believe. We as a society have celebrated Christmas as our largest holiday for at the ver least 175 years most probably way over 200 without real harm to individuals and to society.
The letter:
Wishing someone Merry Christmas, rather by voice, on a window or by song, is not forcing a religion on anyone. It’s a wish for happiness during a certain holiday season. Some who don’t practice it recognize this.
Christmas is less exclusive than some people think. Americans have incorporated elements from various cultures to make our own celebration. On top of that people from other religions and even some atheists celebrate the secular version of Christmas. After all Christmas is by far the largest celebration in the USA and perhaps in the world.
Stores who, to be politically correct, change Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays are biting the hand that feeds them. They will offend significantly more people by not saying it than the small handful who are really take offense by it. Since stores are going to offend no matter what they do they should do the right thing and say Merry Christmas. After all Christmas, not the Holidays, is the reason we buy so much this time of year. The combined sales for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, winter and the Muslim holy day do not come close to equaling what is bought for Christmas.
One last musing here:
A few years ago liberals acted like they liked Christmas; after all it was about God's Love for us all--very inclusive and I believe they felt it was nonjudgemental when it came to our actions as well as something good--that God loves us. Easter-or Resurrection Day-was different for it at least implied that Jesus was the only way to God.
However somewhere along the way Christmas turned politically incorrect, it seemed be very sudden, but it could have been below the surface for a while. It is still about God's Love for us and about God being with us. If someone is offended by a God that loves them enough to be born as a human to do all that Jesus did, I believe they choose to be and it is not God's fault, nor the fault of the one saying Merry Christmas.
The letter to the editor and the story I posted on part one pretty much explained my feelings, thoughts and logic, so I won't go back over it.
I don't want to go into greater length right now, these three sections say what I want to say.
