by Rabbi Aryeh
Spero
Posted Nov 23, 2005
It’s December 2030, and I’m shopping
with my grandson in a mall in
Northern Virginia. We’ve purchased
a gift for a relative.
“Gift wrap?” inquired the clerk.
“Yes,
thanks.”
“Happy
Chanukah, Merry Kwanzaa, or Eid
Greetings?”
I
frowned. The clerk whispered,
“Listen, I think there may still
be a few rolls of Christmas wrap
in the back if you want…”
My
grandson looked up at me and asked,
“Why is the man whispering, Grandpa?”
The
clerk leaned over the counter:
“The store’s Diversity Regulations
stipulate that we’re no longer
permitted to offer anything saying
‘Christmas.’”
“Grandpa,”
David asked, “when did the stores
stop offering Christmas paper?”
“I’m
not exactly sure,” I replied,
“but I do remember that already
back in 2005 stores like Kohl’s
and Target no longer allowed their
employees to say ‘Merry Christmas.’
Now even schools are forbidden
to print the word ‘Christmas’
on their calendars in the December
25th box.”
“But,
Grandpa, the President still lights
the National Fern!”
“Yes,
David, and it was once the National
Christmas Tree. But there were
these very powerful and well-moneyed
groups such as the ACLU that for
over 50 years relentlessly tried
to remove anything of Christmas
from American public life and
social discourse. Then there was
this other group, the ADL, which
claimed to be fighting bigotry,
but really appeared to be promoting
bigotry against Christians and
people with political views the
ADL didn’t like. Anyway, by the
time 2005 had arrived, most American
people no longer had the conviction
and mettle of the people who founded
this nation in the 18th
century.”
“Why
not, Grandpa?”
“Well,
believe it or not, they simply
were worn down by constantly being
called names like anti-Semite,
Islamophobe, racist, or homophobe.”
“You
mean, people 50 years ago were
so scared that they’d allow their
country to be taken from them
rather than be called a name?
I thought sticks and stones will
break my bones, but names will
never hurt me!”
“Well,
there was another factor at work.
Back then we called it ‘political
correctness.’ If you spoke out
against the ACLU, you were called
‘intolerant.’ If you cherished
our American freedoms and were
patriotic, you were ‘reactionary.’
If you were revolted by the in-your-face
perversions of the day, you were
‘unsophisticated.’ If you believed
in right and wrong, your thinking
was ‘un-nuanced.’
“Some
of the people who stood up against
the ACLU,” I continued, “were
called Conservatives. In those
days, you weren’t welcomed in
‘progressive’ circles if you were
a Conservative. You didn’t get
those high-paying jobs in the
media, Hollywood, or in the University.
In fact, if they knew you were
Conservative, you could even lose
your job -- and, if you wanted
to keep your job, you had to undergo
diversity training at Sensitivity
Sessions and mouth the appropriate
platitudes and apologies, even
against your own conscience.”
“How
did the ACLU control everybody?”
David asked.
“You
see, they insisted that any references
to Christmas and Christianity
were ‘offensive’ to some people.”
“Were
the Christians trying to impose
their religion on everybody?”
“Heavens,
no, David. But when Christians
wanted simply to express themselves
as other groups did, they were
accused of having a hidden agenda
of ‘Christianizing’ America. Black
‘pride,’ Jewish ‘pride,’ Islamic
and Hispanic ‘pride’ were considered
social goods and ‘diversity,’
but Christian expression was considered
a symptom of concealed anti-Semitism,
racism, Islamophobia, and even
American imperialism!”
“Grandpa,
how did you feel when someone
wished you Merry Christmas?”
“I
felt fine being on the receiving
end of good wishes and that person’s
desire to include me in his season
of joy. Besides, it was the gracious
thing to do. Then along came the
Left and they politicized every
harmless and gentle aspect of
everyday life, rendering almost
anything any normal person said
as somehow ‘insensitive’ to some
person or group. They took regular
daily life which had been sweet
and turned it into a political
brawl. They made fair-minded Americans
self-conscious of every word,
and relations between people strained
and bitter. They busy-bodied into
everything private and personal.
And out of a desire to be considered
‘inclusive,’ Christians allowed
their Christianity to be rubbed
out from the public sphere.”
“Just
so they could be called ‘nice’
by a bunch of bullies, Grandpa?”
“Yes,
because unbeknownst to our good-willed
Christian friends, the ACLU and
its fanatical left-wing collaborators
were zealously engaged in a deliberate
plan to expunge Christianity from
America, all the while pretending
that their intent was simply to
have a more inclusive America
and not offend non-Christians.”
“So
Grandpa, I guess American Christians
were suckers.”
“I’m
afraid so.”
As
we walked around, I noticed how
quiet and gloomy the store was,
and remembered back to the days
when every department, resplendent
with colorful decorations and
Christmas music, was almost bursting
with shoppers.
“Grandpa,
if the ACLU and ADL were against
religion, why did they want religious
symbols for Moslem-Americans and
Jewish-Americans and African-Americans?”
“Well,
David, that’s the dark little
secret that only your Grandpa
and a few others knew. These people
weren’t anti-religious as much
as they were anti-Christian: anti-
the majority religion that made
America, America. They weren’t
against Allah or African gods.
They hated the Christian God.
Many simply despised Christians
of Faith, hated them as people.”
“Isn’t
that hatred, too?”
“Yes,
indeed, 100% bigotry. But the
bigotries of the Left, and those
of minorities, were called ‘tolerance.’
Whatever they said, in those days,
was considered the moral high
ground, the law. Whomever they
supported, even brutal dictators
like Fidel Castro, was considered
enlightened.”
“So
Grandpa, if you knew what the
real goals were of the ACLU and
ADL, why didn’t you speak up,
then?”
“I
did, as did others, but so few
would listen. If only they could
have realized that failure to
act would bring about even greater
curtailment of their rights and
complete demolition of our great
American civilization.”
“Grandpa,
who were the people who made up
the ACLU?”
“Well,
sadly some of our own wayward
brethren who had long ago abandoned
belief in God, the Bible and our
own Jewish religion. Having no
religious identity, they basically
defined themselves as ‘not being
Christian,’ so they fought Christmas
displays tooth and nail. Many
felt insecure even in their identity
as Americans, so they waged war
against the Christianity underlying
America.”
“Who
else belonged to the ACLU?”
“People
who were raised Christian but
rejected it and were therefore
embarrassed by it. And, of course,
the ACLU had its atheists, too.
They despised America’s Judeo-Christian
ethos.”
“Grandpa,
we were taught in school that
our country was founded on our
Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage.
And that our Founding Fathers
were guided greatly by the principles
of the Holy Koran.”
“Yes,
another victory for liberalism:
rewrite history and deny the facts,
all in the name of ‘inclusion’.”
“Grandpa,
where is the ACLU located today?”
“Why,
it’s right there in Washington,
D.C., across from the U.S. Capitol.”
“You
mean that big white-marble building
where the Supreme Court used to
be? The one with the statues of
Mohammed and Ruth Bader Ginsburg?”
“Yes,
David. You see, the country decided
that since, in effect, the ACLU
and leftist judges determined
almost every American law in the
last 50 years, as well as being
the final word as to what is Constitutional,
we might as well dispense with
the Supreme Court and locate in
that building America’s real judicial,
legal power: the ACLU.”
We
took our packages and walked out
of the store and were guided down
the escalator by Spanish and Arabic
directions, though, unlike my
grandson, I focused on the smaller
English subtitles.
We drove on Route 50 until we
came to Falls Mosque, Virginia.
I remembered when the city had
been renamed from the original
Falls Church when that section
of Virginia was granted the right
to no longer live by American
law but, instead, by its own shariah
law now that 40% of the people
in that area were Islamic. The
ACLU told us that in the name
of multiculturalism, not to do
so would offend Islamic sensibilities
and honor.
However,
I knew that such a step had been
rooted in timidity. We had become
fraidy-cats, enfeebled, because
50 years of liberalism had made
us no longer believe in ourselves,
who we were and what we stood
for. That had always been liberalism’s
goal.
Anyway,
the rage among liberals had been
to change all these historic American
names, as was being done by their
mentors and idols in Eurabia who
guided us as to what was sophisticated.
Londonstan, Parisabia, and Berlindad,
all were renamed cities in the
greater Caliphate living under
the Religion of Peace.
My
grandson interrupted my thoughts:
“If the ACLU people hated America
so, why didn’t they just leave?”
“Son,
they were on a mission. They wanted
to reshape America and make it
socialist, with themselves at
the helm calling the shots, running
the show. They didn’t love America
as America, but they knew they
would love it completely when
it became socialist. Besides,
no one leaves America. Look at
those Hollywood gripers. The money
is too good here. The fame. The
ease and the safety. Where else
do you become a hero by bashing
your country? Why would they leave,
their family is here?”
As
we got out of our car near home,
we spotted a small building with
a Cross. It was lit up and the
distant sounds of a hymn could
be heard in the cold evening air.
“What’s
happening inside that building?”
“David,
that is a church. A church is
a place where Christians gather
privately to express their Christianity,
now that public expression of
Christianity in America is forbidden.”
“Grandpa,
how many Christians were there
in America back in 2005?”
“Well,
I’d say about 260 million. Indeed
85% of the country was then Christian.”
“85%?”
David exclaimed, amazed, bewildered.
“Incredible,
right? Of course, half the Jews
had no problem with Christmas,
and not all atheists were offended
by Christmas trees – but it turned
out that less than 10% of the
country’s population was able
to control the other 91%.”
“And
the Americans didn’t fight for
themselves at all?”
“Well,
they had been bullied so long,
son, they lost their fiber. The
others were afraid of a newspaper
called The New York Times. And
the people themselves decided
they had more important things
to do than defend their heritage.”
“But,
Grandpa, without traditions and
heritage, you have nothing, right?
Why did they accept that everybody
else’s feelings were more important
than their feelings?”
“They
had become intimidated by a foolish
and destructive wind that ran
across the land. It was a suicidal
ideology: liberalism. It taught
that the greatest virtue was national
self-criticism. It resulted in
people hating their own great
country, America. And thus a handful
of well-positioned, manipulative
liberal elitists were able to
bring down an entire powerful
country.”
I
thought back to what distorted
times they had been, back in late
2005. While Christians were reviled
and seen by liberals as the enemy,
jihadist terrorists were “understood”
and their detention raised a cry
in their behalf for “compassion.”
Social and political energy was
channeled in two directions: overwhelming
concern for the highest degree
of humane treatment for Islamic
terrorists coupled with an all
out assault against Christians
wanting merely to say Merry Christmas.
“You
know, David,” I continued, “I
remember back when I was growing
up in America in the 1950s. The
Christians had beautiful Christmas
trees covered with glittering
lights lining the avenues in the
snow, children went from house
to house singing Christmas carols,
people gave presents to each other
wrapped in sparkly wrappings,
strangers would extend unexpected
kindnesses and generosities to
each other, and walking down a
street on a wintry night one might
even come across a gentle nativity
scene that didn’t hurt anybody.
But that was America then, not
now.”
Words
are only good if they lead to
action, I thought. Nothing happens
unless the people venture boldly
into public debates and the streets
and face down those who are trying
to destroy them and put their
heritage and children in harm’s
way. Where had the activists been?
We were too fine to get out in
the streets, too gentlemanly to
call things the way they were,
too preoccupied with appearing
‘compassionate’ to stop the leftists
and jihadists. Maybe our good-willed
friends simply never realized
that some of America’s greatest
foes were citizens within our
own borders.
I
put my arm around my young grandson.
“My America is gone now. How wonderful
it was. It was heaven on earth.
We could have taken to the streets.
We could have stood together and
risen up, one citizen at a time,
defying every challenge in every
forum, and fighting for our freedoms
on the front-lines of every village
and town.”
“So what happened, Grandpa? How
did we lose America?”
“I’ll
tell you: our soldiers on the
battlefield overseas were brave,
but we folks at home had no guts.”