This train of thought all started innocently enough. A few weeks back I had occasion to attend a public meeting. I haven’t been to one for quite a while, so I forgot about a few things.

First of all, one of the assembled county government officials is called upon to offer up a prayer. God knows our county leaders need all the help they can get, divine or otherwise, so no harm no foul. What surprised me about the prayer was the specific nature of it. While the prayer asked for guidance in reaching the right decisions, it was asked for in Jesus’ name. My jaw dropped.

I looked around the room and saw a person who probably prays to Buddha, and others for whom the Bible undoubtedly stops at the end of the Old Testament. I asked myself, and the person next to me, how it could be that a public official would be so specific in a public prayer? No answer was forthcoming, so I’m forced to conclude the person offering the prayer just assumed everyone in the room prayed as he did, which is a presumption that should never be made, especially by a public official.

Let me preface this by saying I’m not one of those people for whom political correctness is a way of life. Politically correct terms make language awkward and I’m all about clear communication. A person is chairman of a committee, even if the chairman is a woman. Get over yourself.

I see no problem with offering up a cheery Merry Christmas, if you want to. Conversely, since Christmas and Hanukkah often overlap, happy holidays is also a nice phrase, taking in to account everything from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, but it’s a choice, not a mandate.

People are free to ignore or embrace Christmas as they see fit. Even some Christians do not celebrate Christmas in the traditional way, but that’s the beauty of living in a country not ruled by one religion or the other.

I do not embrace the use of the phrase African-American either. From my eyes, I see no difference between Sammy Sosa, a black (really, a lovely brown) man from Latin America and Muhammad Ali. You can’t refer to both of these gentlemen as African-Americans.

It is absurd in general to refer to people by their color. My skin color bears no resemblance to my white T-shirts, and black people are not black either. They really are varying shades of warm brown—black is an absence of color. The effort to find labels that offend no one, offends me in its absurdity. There is no need to refer to a person as Joe Blow, a black man or Joe Below, a white man. What’s wrong with just referring to them by name? Unless they are on the run from the law, there is no need for a color identity.

Thinking about all this makes my head hurt. This is the one time of year when people seriously think about world peace, harmony within communities and ways to make life better for those who cannot do it for themselves. If people thought this way 365 days a year, we would eliminate many community and world problems, but sadly it happens only once a year and for far too short a time. Why is that? It seems most of the world embraces the spirit of Christmas, whether they be Christian or not, but the remaining 11 months of the year, it is dog-eat-dog business as usual. I’d hate to think it all comes down to the economics of the season, but it may well be that simple. Even discounting the huge Moslem population, Christmas is a world celebration.

Every year I want the spirit of the season to be eternal and it never is. Call me Pollyanna if you want to, but I really believe world harmony can be achieved, one person at a time.

May the joys and blessings of the season be with you and yours.

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