Posted on 12/11/2004 5:45:15 AM PST by mek1959
Thanks for your efforts to get through to the culturally challenged here.
I give up. One of my daughters just called and wants me to go with her and her boys to cut the Christmas tree. That sounds like more fun than trying to get through to these moroons.
The thing that disturbs me more than anything else is that half or more of the people on this, supposedly, conservative forum just don't get it. What does it mean anymore to be conservative?
BTW, my wife is a nurse and unfortunately for us, has to work about every other Christmas. That's just our tiny cross to bear, but has NOTHING to do with issue at hand.
Ok, lets put it this way Dog-Gone, let's say you are a Christian, who works part time at Safeway (most jobs there are part time) The boss says, you either show up for work, I don't care what your plans were, or you are fired.
Just so YOU can have a can of whipped cream.
Santa makes a list, checks it twice. Surely you can make one too. Remember to add whipped cream.
My son is a cop,his wife is a nurse.They often work Christmas,as they are this year.
Apparently you want to make America like an Islamic country - where Christmas is ignored by the culture at large and all the stores are open on Christmas. The ACLU wants the same thing - - stamp out Christmas. That would sap us of the spiritual tradition on which our culture and country rest, and which gives it strength.
The fact that some jobs don't stop on Christmas isn't the point. What Safeway is doing is pushing us toward having ALL RETAIL STORES OPEN ON CHRISTMAS - SO THAT AS A CULTURE WE STOP SETTING CHRISTMAS APART AS A SPECIAL DAY. The ACLU wants the same thing - they want us to stop honoring Christmas as a culture. SHAME ON SAFEWAY FOR THEIR ACLU-LIKE POLICY.
I remember when I lived in London, the stores in the Islamic parts of town were defiantly opened on Christmas, to show they didn't honor the holiday that was at the core of the nation's cultural traditions. Looks like Safeway is spearheading a move, in this country, to dishonor Christmas the same way.
I notice that those who purport to be more Christian and conservative than the rest of us have a pretty nasty tone to their posts.
How curious.
This happens to my wife nearly every year at the hospital, and I assume that if she didn't show up, she'd get fired. It's not an issue.
For Safeway employees, I doubt it will be much of a problem for them earlier. It undoubtedly is going to be a skeleton staff, probably made up of people who volunteer. Most people aren't going to patronize any store on Christmas, and it's just not going to be crowded like normal days.
And I'll try to remember the whipped cream because I don't think there are any Safeways in Texas.
As I posted above, what Safeway is doing reminds me of the Muslim merchants in London who ostantateously open on Christmas - to show they don't pay any regard to that day. Are we, as a culture, going to start treating Christmas with the same disrespect?
Yeah, the accusation that I want to make America like an Islamic country was a little over the top, lol.
Yeah, that's fine. You are entitled to your own opinion. But that right does not extend to bashing other Freepers for expressing theirs too as you did.
I notice those that purport to be conservative and non- Christian seem to have ignorance incorcorated into the tone of their posts. How curious.
The Non- Christian wants to sit home, have the day off, eat his dessert with whipped cream, while the Christian who should be home with the day off can't celebrate that day. That's even more curious, and backward.
You don't get the real issue here. It's whether RETAILERS SHOULD OPEN ON CHRISTMAS, SO WE TREAT IT AS JUST ANOTHER DAY - - - LIKE ANY DAY IN JULY OR SEPTEMBER OR MARCH, A SHOPPING AND BUSINESS DAY WITH NO NATIONAL OR CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE. Of course some individuals, in emergency jobs and the like, have always had to work on Christmas, but as a culture we have said that it's NOT A REGULAR BUSINESS DAY OR SHOPPING DAY. What Safeway is proposing is that we start treating it like any other day, with the stores open and business as usual -- JUST LIKE IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES.
Believe me,I'm on your side. I was just responding to a previous post.
I loved it when there was nothing open on Sunday,except convenience stores.Now it's all retail,all the time.
No, it's accurate. If you're ok with the culture ignoring the significance of christmas and keeping stores open that day - as if it was Sept 25, rather than Dec 25 -- then you're proposing the same policy as they have in Muslim countries, where the stores are open and everybody works on Dec. 25.
No, I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that as long as we, collectively, hold to those beliefs, and that includes staying out of those stores that open on Christmas Day, then the specialness will not be gone -- not only that, but Safeway will recognize that it is not in their best interest, finacially or as a "good neighbor", to open then, and the madness will end.
But you cannot compromise YOUR values and what you hold sacred just because someone else does.
Over the top....
The workers that day are volunteers! I've worked so many Christmas', it just happens...
I'd relate the old story about the frog in the pan of water, but as I said I gotta go and don't have time for another few hundred posts to get the point of that one across to them. ;o)
My wife is a nurse as well. That's a completely different circumstance as you well know.
There is no need for Safeway to be open Christmas day. period. Why do you need to have Christmas eve or Christmas day off if you aren't a Christian? It makes no sense.
As I said in an earlier post. If it's just another day to non- Christians, then let them work it. At STRAIGHT TIME.
Christians should have the day off. It's one of THE most important days to Christians, and to the world for that matter.
Yup, it does make me mad that people are willing to strip away out cultural traditions, and have Christmas treated in the US with the same disregard and disrespect (stores open and all) that it gets in Saudi Arabia and Iran. You're right, that makes me mad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.