Ben Stein on Christmas . . . Entry for December 4, 2006

I first saw this excerpt from a post on my good friend Peachycoco’s blog and thought in the spirit of Christmas I’d steal it and share the warmth. But first I decided to do a little research and find out if it’s really was true before posting it. And sure enough, after a short google search, I found a link to it on Ben Stein’s website under "Stuff Ben Wrote" . I hope he doesn’t mind the reprint.

12/18/05 CBS Sunday Morning Commentary:

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

© Ben Stein

Of course Nick and Jessica are no more, neither are Brittany and K-Fed, which goes to show celebrities suck ass at relationships just like we do, lol. But I mean c’mon people, some people can be WAY too politically correct, and would it kill ya once a year to just let people be people and be good to each other, and keep your personal offendedness (yea, I made up that word) to yourself?

If you don’t want to believe in Jesus and Christmas, that’s cool, but don’t ruin it for those who do and want to celebrate. And the same goes for Chanukah (Dreidel dreidel dreidel I made you out of clay), and Kwanza for that matter. I could use some more info on Kwanza if someone would care to comment with it.

But whatever your belief or faith, can’t we all just celebrate being good to each other in the middle of winter for no particular reason? Or in the middle of summer for those of our friends in the Land of OZ and EnZed? Is that so wrong? All yearlong would be great too, but I know that’s asking for too much, lol.