[Positive Adjective or feeling + holiday or celebration name here]!
If that doesn’t make sense, maybe this will…
Joyous and Jolly Wintertime Wishes for… blah! blah! blah!
Look, I get it, there are a lot of holidays and well wishes to go around. We all want to have happy, fun and stress free holidays, right? To quote Dennis Miller, “I don’t want to go off on a rant, but…”, come on people, isn’t a bit presumptuous to throw out these holiday greetings?
Yes, it is! I mean, who I am to grant someone an emotional feeling on any given day. I don’t have that power, really, I don’t! I can’t even guarantee that any random Tuesday is going to be happy, or for that matter, even be less than a total crap-show.
Now, before you get all worked up because in reality all we are doing is letting someone know we just hope they have a good or happy day, let me assure you I get that, really, I do, but I just want people to understand that, in reality, it means nothing.
Most of the time, at best, these platitudes and formulaic responses are said without any real feeling or empathy toward the other person. At worst, they are a veiled attempt to promote your world view on someone else. “Merry Christmas!” you say with all the fake cheer you can muster… at your devout Jewish friend no less! “Happy Hanukkah!” they shout back, knowing full well you have never celebrated that in any way. Really?
Here’s a crazy thought, if you know their belief system, religion or world view, use the greeting appropriate to them, not you.
Lastly, and this one just bugs me… STOP TELLING ME “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” ON JANUARY 1ST. That’s just too much pressure, and there is absolutely zero chance that I, or anyone else can live up to that. I don’t need that kind of stress from day one! I mean, we all have a hard enough time getting through a single day happy, much less an entire year.
or at least stay home, sit down and be quiet while you contemplate your life.
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