Oh, boy, I did not want to address this topic, but it could be coming to your town. Bill O’Reilly started making fun of Fort Collins — the town where I live — on national TV.
There has been a Christmas decoration snafu unfolding. It’s embarrassing. Not horrifically embarrassing like in 1989 when Fort Collins had Debbie Duz Donuts, a highway doughnut shop where the waitresses went topless. The national media, of course, connected Fort Collins with Debbie Duz Donuts. I had just moved to Colorado from Los Angeles. My mortified friends called to say, “What kind of place have you moved to?” They found the Sunset Strip less tacky. And it was.
This new embarrassment is simply silly. It seems the City Council, some years back, ran into a ruckus about Christmas ornaments.
A rabbi asked that a menorah be added to the Christmas display in the town square, and oddly, instead of simply saying “Yes,” lots of head scratching ensued. In the spirit of full disclosure, I went on record then as being fully in favor of a gloriously lit menorah in the public square. It seemed an utter no-brainer.
But fret and fracas won out over common sense.
A Chicken Little “what if the sky falls” mentality took hold. Stuff like “What if the Wiccans (who were clearly being confused with Halloween witches, complete with warts, odd green bubbling brews and the like) asked to put up some sort of broom display? What if someone wants to specifically represent otters, or terrorists, or Lutherans? What if?”
So, instead of adding a menorah, or addressing the lack of inclusion, nothing was done. A lovely restaurant put the menorah up on its own property, and things muddled along.
This year, the good rabbi again made the request. A gaggle of diverse people was gathered to come up with some recommendation about decorations.
They opted to recommend inclusion, in the form of a display representing various traditions, cultures and religions to be erected outside the town museum. And they recommended white lights only on city- owned buildings.
Merchants, of course, could continue to decorate in any way they chose.
I thought the white lights would pull all the Santa and Star of David and penguin decorations together, tastefully. Tasteful is always better than having a downtown look like giant inflatable Wal-Mart elves threw up the contents of giant Santa’s village all over the streets.
Last week the City Council voted down the recommendations.
They caved because they were afraid Fort Collins would continue to be nationally connected with wars on Christmas, Christianity and Jesus. By caving, they gave credence to the notice that the recommendations were indeed such attacks. Poppycock.
I dare say almost no one living within a whoop and a holler of anyone in this whole country hates Jesus. Not everyone believes he is the messiah. But very few would go so far as to hate him. Historically speaking, and from available texts, he was a pretty good guy, no matter what religion you do or don’t answer to.
Drama queens are out and about nationwide this time of year (and during election time, but that’s another story). They manufacture fake fights to gain attention. They create conspiracies out of nothings — giant puffballs, frothy, swollen and full of hot air.
Hanukkah. Christmas. Both are religious holidays. Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday. In all three we can find common human values — birth, thankfulness, peace, magic, miracles, culture, family, hope and light.
No one hates Jesus. No one is trying to steal Christmas.
The only Grinches are the ones who would rather see towns battle over red and green lights, or immigrant people, or two people who love each other wanting to marry, than spend their time and money on real fights, like the ones against poverty, discrimination, or the ill health of even a single one of us.
I believe Jesus had some things to say about all three of those topics. But Christmas decorations? Not so much. I think he’d laugh and then set up with a serious stare of “Are you kidding me?”
E-mail Fort Collins poet and writer Natalie Costanza-Chavez at grace-notes@comcast.net. Read more of her essays at gracenotes .
