I'm tired of being politically correct. When my grandkids were younger, every winter they had something called "Christmas Break." By the time they were seniors in high school, their vacation was referred to as "Winter Break." Ok, I get it - not everyone is Christian, and singing about a Jewish toy made out of clay in their annual pageant probably wasn't enough to acknowledge other backgrounds.

Now it's out of hand. I made the grave error of wishing an acquaintance "Merry Christmas" last year and got an earful of angry propaganda in return. This year, I overheard a mall-goer complain about the king-of-neutrality catch-all, "Happy Holidays." "I've raised my kids atheist. This crap confuses them," she stated to her companion. Yeah, I bet they're confused, but not by a hokey sign hanging in a department store. They're probably wondering why the world is filled with good cheer while their mom is full of, well, other stinky stuff.

I'm not knocking folks' right to religion, or lack thereof. But I'm sick of having to stumble over words when all I want to do is wish somebody good tidings. All this emphasis on being politically correct makes people afraid of expressing themselves and leads to a nation full of wussy kids who are raised in fear of saying the wrong thing.

I'm worried about what all of this will lead to. Are my great-grandchildren going to be wishing each other "Happy Religious or Secular Holiday of your Choice?"

Here's what I have to say to the mall-going complainer and the rest of the hyper-politically-corrects among you: Take your "Happy Winter," revised pledge of allegiance, gender-neutral pronouns and other overly-sensitive, "Oooh - you hurt my feelings!" commentary and swallow it. You're negativity is infringing on my belief system.


When not offending the religious and non-religious alike, Judith is on the internet. This may come as a surprise, but she doesn't have many friends. You can e-mail Judith at jprimrose@insidescv.com.