Submitted by Alfred J. Lemire, Mar 19, 2008 17:45

"Christmas long ago lost its religious overtones and serves along with New Year's Day as a secular winter observance." Perhaps In Jay Akasie's household and that of many who are not Christian, this is so. But this writer looks forward every year to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, as do many of his relatives, and those with families rejoice over the birth of Jesus, with, of course, the pleasant touches of Christmas trees, presents, and fine eating. The holiday began mostly because people like refused to work on Christmas Day. As for those who are non-Christian, well, one thanks them for their tolerance; Christians tolerate much that non-Christians prize. They have to: as beneficiaries of others' understanding, they should return the favor and respect, for example, the High Holy Days. And Martin Luther King Day, though Presidents' Day now makes no sense. (I honored Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's birthdays as a boy. Now I honor Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, too? But a St. Patrick's Day holiday? Complete nonsense. There's enough St. Patrick's foolery in the Northeast; why force the people in Oklahoma to observe a holiday most cannot understand, on any level?

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