At a recent social gathering, I was confronted with a rather unexpected challenge. I was told that to say "Merry Christmas" is insensitive to those people in our society who may not celebrate Christmas and therefore a simple "Happy Holidays" should be substituted.

I thought to myself that the whole notion of avoiding, at all costs, imposing one's religious or other freedoms onto someone else's freedoms has really reached the level of lunacy. This stopped me in my tracks and had me thinking about how many other offensive greetings and interactions I may be engaging in. Here is a list of a few that came to mind: Saying God bless you (after someone sneezes), Yes Ma'am, or Happy Easter; Holding a door open for another person; Allowing a Lady to enter or exit ahead of me; Giving up a seat for a lady or older person; Wearing a tie pin of a pair of unborn infant feet; Making the sign of the cross; Saying grace before meals in a public restaurant; Speaking English; Flying an American flag; Expecting courtesy from others; Praying before or after a sports game; and Praying and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (the version with "One Nation Under God") before public meetings.

I took the opportunity to examine how much this public sentiment was taking root and was there a new social system gaining traction, at least in my limited world of St. Bernard and the metropolitan area of New Orleans. I did all the things that would be expected of a "Southern Gentleman and Holy Cross Man". With it being Advent and with Christmas upon us, the opportunities were plentiful.

My experiment included many races, both genders (oops that's another one of those imposing categories), several religious and non-religious faiths, and people of every age and economic status. It is my humble observation that the overwhelming majority of the people with whom I came into contact want one basic thing from their interaction with others- simple respect. The fact that someone says Merry Christmas to a person of Jewish faith (as I did) or waits for a female corporate executive to pass through a held door (also did) or many of the others listed above had relatively no offensive response. If our expression to another is genuine and positive, the words become more silent and the simple message of respect is what is heard.

The simple conclusion for me- keep doing good works that glorify Jesus, keep rebuilding our community of family values and hard work for all to share, keep offering Christmas and Easter wishes to others, keep opening doors and offering seats, keep blessing sneezers, keep celebrating our country, accept the same from others, and stop apologizing for doing the things that make us who we are.

As Christmas or Chanukah or any other tradition is celebrated this year, the message of Hope and Promise that rests in the birth of Christ is not altered. He was born in a stable and came to offer salvation to the world- would we have done the same? Will we today?

God Bless and Merry Christmas,

Craig Taffaro, Jr.