Season of political correctness is here again

‘Tis the season for political correctness once again. How quickly it comes upon us but, as sure as snow comes arrives the third week of November, so does the time when people get their shirts in a knot over what to call Christmas.

If you go to the School District 73 website, you’ll find reference to “Winter Break.” This break in classes runs from Dec. 20 to Jan. 3, which happens to be the time for Christians — and, in fact, a lot of non-Christians — to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Without getting into debate over when Christ actually was born, let’s accept that Christmas is about Christ. As you are well aware, there are those among us who feel strongly that all references to Christmas should be expunged from our vocabulary and replaced with Holiday Season and such.

Three years ago, there was a bit of a flap when Kay Bingham elementary school changed its annual Christmas concert to a “winter talent show.” No Christmas carols were allowed.

Parent Marina Dooley was livid. “The heck with them taking Christmas away from the kids,” she proclaimed. “I refuse to let anyone take Christmas away from anyone.”

Fortunately, the “winter talent show” approach didn’t catch on. I suspect most people wholeheartedly agreed with Marina Dooley, but not all. They worry about religion in our schools, and feel reference to any one religion de facto discriminates against others.

Down in Chilliwack, school trustees are in a little hot water because they voted to call the upcoming December break “Christmas holidays.” Radical.

They recognized that a “winter break” is not what it’s all about. “We’re not having a holiday because it’s winter,” said Trustee Martha Wiens. “We are having a holiday because it’s Christmas, so why not just say what it is?”

The “winter vacation” reference is commonly used by school districts because that’s the term used on the Ministry of Education calendar, apparently.

And that’s the way it should be, according to the Chilliwack Teachers Association and the Parent Advisory Council, which both opposed calling the break “Christmas holidays.”

“I feel that we are going backward versus forwards,” PAC president Kirsten Brandreth was quoted as saying in the Chilliwack Times.

“I think that we have to be very sensitive that within our community there are many other beliefs, so I feel that it has been a very insensitive decision.”

Oh, come on. As a non-Christian, I’ve never been offended by Christmas concerts or Christmas holidays and enjoy the Christmas season like everyone else. Plus I enjoy a good story about the three wise men, and a carol about Bethlehem, as much as anyone.

Will our own Kamloops school board walk on the wild side and let kids out for a Christmas holiday, or will they be released for a winter break? We wait with baited breath.

AND THE BEIGE GOES ON. Coun. Tina Lange, who also runs the Plaza Hotel, admits that she did, indeed, think about painting over the current peach on the outside of the hotel with “a nice solid gray/taupe.” But she recently went to Portugal and the current paint job on the hotel began looking better when she saw the brightly coloured buildings there. “Every building in Lisbon reminded me of the Plaza.” She adds that she opts for bold colours in her own decorating, and her current house is green, blue, pink, purple and yellow. “Nothing beige about those colours”. . . . Michael Black tells me that when he moved to Kamloops in 1977 he painted a six ft. by 16 ft. dragon on the outside of his Barnhartvale house to brighten it up and to prove not all Brits are ultra-conservative. The neighbours complained at first but after they got used to it they “thought it was quite amazing.” Sadly, a month after he sold the house, the new owner painted out the dragon.

mrothenburger@kamloopsnews.ca

http://www.armchairmayor.wordpress.com