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Opinion

Feel free not to celebrate this year

Austin Havican
Opinion Columnist

Feel free to avoid celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa during the holiday break this winter.

Feel free to avoid hanging your head in uncomfortable prayer around a dinner table if you don't feel what your uncle is saying applies to you. Sure, some deity might be listening to your appreciation for a good year, but that good year is probably the result of your hard work.

Feel free to avoid lying to children about Santa Claus, Rudolph or Jesus. Aside from the fact that it's a heartbreaking moment when a child finds out these three's existence or abilities were false, there is something intrinsically wrong about deceiving children to get them to behave.

Feel free to instead tell children that you gave them the gift they--ve wanted all year. Tell them that you love them, and you hope they enjoy this present from you.

Feel free to question believers about what "immaculate conception" means, and demand evidence for the impossible process. Christianity is a dominating and forgiving religion, so extrapolating the cause for the birth of its namesake should be a fine (or required) task.

Feel free to be sickened by the capitalistic greed marketed as the "most wonderful season of all." The day after Thanksgiving opens the gates to the mad rush of parents desperate to please their children with the newest and hottest toys. The thoughtful and humanistic idea of giving someone a gift that you think best represents your relationship is distorted into an obligation, which is most often met with disappointment and feigned appreciation. 

Feel free to instead appreciate a more interesting, less marketed cause for celebration: the Winter Solstice. This Dec. 22, the Earth will reach its furthest point from the sun, which could be interpreted as our moment of greatest distance from the true giver of life. However you celebrate it, the obligation and potential offensiveness of your celebration is much less than that of the celebrations of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The event is one without religious or racial exclusivity and can be celebrated by everyone as a mark of our scientific understanding.

Feel free to ask your employers or government institutions to take down their religious holiday decorations. Assuming that Santa Claus and dreidels are acceptable in local, state or federal buildings is oppressive to non-believers.

You can be an atheist in the winter. You will be called a scrooge, told not to ruin the celebrations for everyone else and forced to listen to Christmas music almost everywhere you go. You will feel alone in your confidence in science and evolution, annoyed at the blithe and disgusting consumerism and confused in the greeting card aisles at the minimal selection of secular winter greeting cards.

Remember that it is OK to declare your absence of faith in unproven superstition and instead spend your study break doing whatever makes you and your loved ones happy.

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