OBSERVING THE ABSURD
Filed by PAULY FONGEMIE
   November 10, 2007

Once more the annual season of silliness which the cult of the PC god observes with rituals of increasing absurdity, is nigh upon us, this time making its obscene advent in Fort Collins, Colorado. Those of us who serve the one True God and who celebrate Christmastide, the season of Christ's Mass, are made to witness the bizarre, in atonement for our own infidelity, our failure to evangelize for the glory of God. The powers that be in Fort Collins, named the best place to live in 2006 by Money magazine, and situated on the Cache la Poudre River, of French [Catholic] derivation, have taken it upon themselves to impose their own peculiar liturgical rules for marking the secularization of Christmas, which is a blasphemy. The festive lights are not to be in color and the festoons on the wreaths must be removed. Now these decorations are not religious and have but an informal link to the holy season of Christmas through custom and sentimentality. The authentic symbol of Christmas is the Crèche or Nativity scene. Wreaths, colored lights, and so forth are lovely and I would never begrudge anyone the joy they bring to hearts of any age. By all means, let us have them! Their natural beauty is enhanced, made resplendent precisely because they accompany the Crèche, not replace it. Fort Collins elites want the lights to be white only. Where is Jesse Jackson when you need him? This is what I mean by the season of silliness and rituals of the absurd.

The impetus for this stupidity that insults the intelligence of man and beast alike was a Jew who wanted the Menorah, a seven branched candelabrum on display as well. This is the main religious symbol of the Feast of Hanukkah which usually falls within the Advent season proper. Many a person who is not familiar with Jewish holy days thinks of Hanukkah as the Jewish Christmas, which is erroneous. Because the two Feasts find themselves on the calendar so closely paired this is easy enough to understand. It has been the established practice of public administrators throughout the country of permitting a display of the Christmas Tree [now demoted to a "Holiday" Tree], which is a secular symbol, along that of a religious symbol, the Menorah. The imbalance is readily apparent, but many Christians have been deChristianized so thoroughly that they notice not. Jews are seldom this dumb. They know better, and good for them. Fort Collins, fears that if it permits the Menorah, it will have to allow every and all religious displays in the public square all religious displays except Christians ones, that is, because they have not been permitted for over a generation and counting. Irony does not begin to describe this fiasco. Some of the local folks are riled up and an effort is underway to get the idea rescinded before Christmas.

At this point I no longer care, I am disgusted with our pusillanimity and tepidity, the dumbing down of Christmas with the corruption of clutter to the point it just means glittering lights, cheap tinsel, decadent foodstuffs, revolting commerciality, and empty bank accounts come January 1 to usher in the big letdown. If all Christians can hope for or dare ask for is a tree next to a Menorah and whatever else, I say we are wasting our time and insulting the Christ Child and His Holy Mother who spent Christmas in a cold cave wherein dwelled animals and the only lights were the glorious stars under the sky of Bethlehem. No Menorah for them and no tree either. Christmas is about Them, adoring the Christ Child in our hearts and honoring Him and Mary and all the other figures around the Manger by displaying as elegantly, yet meetly, meekly as possible, their images. The Magi brought gifts of value to lay at the feet of the Savior King and this is why we traditionally give gifts to children, in His memory, and theirs, not the least of which is to rekindle the blessings of thanksgiving in our bosoms because it is He Who presents Himself as gift to us, Heaven come down at Christmas, the Light of the world, the Sun of Justice during the time of the year when the days are shortened and the light of the sun is at its ebb. What more glory do we require! Does He require? The glory of holy simplicity! Christmas is a holiday because it is holy. It is sacrilege to refuse to acknowledge this in both private and public offerings. In olden times Christians adapted pagan festivals that lent themselves to the liturgical seasons, in order to uplift the culture, transform and imbue it with the memory of the one True God; now we are taking what is sacred, that is supposed to be untouchable, unchangeable, because it belongs to God, and despoiling it of its very nature and reason; it is as if everything is in reverse or should I say perverse. Why are we bothering at all? Or so much?

The Fort Collins brouhaha, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho, hum, has had me deep in thought. Christmas is a national holiday that benefits Christians and non-Christians alike. Hanukkah, Kwanza, and the like are not national holidays. By what right do their adherents claim a right to intrude? Let them advocate and establish their own national holidays if they so desire. Does anyone think that Christmas would be permitted therein? Ha, ha, ha!

No, I say, if all this is the best we can muster and bluster, let us cease. Give the non-Christian Scrooges at the ACLU and their sycophants the heave ho, ho, ho, telling them we won't go, go, go! Go into the darkness under cover of profane lighting. Where they hope to banish us, into insignificance through meaningless symbols that celebrate our demise as a culture. Christ the King in the Manger is not wanted, the Queen of Bethlehem and of Heaven and earth is not wanted, then let it all be. You want "Christmas" your way, a shallow hallow shell of what ought to be, take it, we bequeath it to you, one and all. And while you are at it, close down your shops adorned with snowmen and elves and other assorted denizens of secular sumptuousness. Christ, the newborn King, is not welcomed? Why should I spend a farthing to celebrate that which is despised? No, close down your shops and with them the incessant whine about how important Christmas is to the economy! I would rather be poor like the holy family was poor, and cold, too, if need be, and even hungry. But not our hearts and spirit!

As for us and our households, leave us be in peace, where we bring out the Nativity set, and the lights aglow, too, in regal simplicity, the rarefied beauty of the supernatural, where the King of Peace, Emmanuel, God among us, in the form of a little Child, is welcomed in every heart, at every hearth. We will have Christ's Mass, and Christmas cards that greet one another with Blessed or Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays!





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