Christmas will be here shortly. TV and flyer ads abound. Businesses urge everyone to spend till it hurts. Credit card companies will bump your limit to crazy amounts without you asking.
To many of us, it must seem the season is “all about the money.” I think that might be true for many business owners in Alberta and on the internet. However ... it shouldn’t be.
Christmas is a Christian tradition celebrating the birth of Christ, whom Christians believe was the son of God. Other major religions of the world believe otherwise. Some of them have different prophets. All of them, though, purport a supreme being or supreme force that overlies the relative short lives of men and women on Earth.
Christmas in Alberta, and Canada, should be more than an annual ritual of spending and profit-taking.
If you’re Christian, it’s certainly a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It should, however, still be an uplifting time of year for all Canadians – regardless of our different faiths. It should be a time to recognize a spirit of togetherness, of belonging, of caring and of giving to others.
All of us should recognize it’s a time of year we should come together to celebrate our collective humanity regardless of our individual beliefs. A time when we all reach out to help those less fortunate. A time to celebrate that we all share the common good fortune to live in a country that accepts others for who they are and not because of the colour of their skin, their language or their religion. A country that integrates and celebrates the best traits, the best traditions, and the best principles of all our various religions and cultures from around the world. As Canadians there are literally hundreds of them.
It’s a time of year for each and every Albertan to celebrate not only themselves but also every other Canadian in our wonderful polyglot country, no matter who they are, no matter what they believe and no matter where they live.
It’s a time to say to everyone else regardless of their religion or beliefs – and very sincerely, and from our hearts – “Merry Christmas and may God bless you.”
David Merritt, St. Albert
