Have a Little Faith

(Image courtesy of www.wnd.com)

It's funny how sometimes a week will have a theme.

It's usually by total coincidence. I think it's called synchronicity.

This week has been like that for me.

It all started when I watched the Community not-so Christmas episode.

(If you haven't seen it, you really need to. It's the best episode so far.)

Shirley, a God-fearing Christian, invites her tutoring group to a Christmas party. To her dismay, she soon learns that this little community includes a Jehovah's Witness, a Jewish girl, a "Buddhist"--

(His "Buddhist" beliefs are called into question when he starts talking about sweat lodges and psychotropic drugs.)

--a Muslim, an atheist and an agnostic. Of course, hilarity ensues as Shirley tries to share Christmas with her friends and is met with rejection. Then she goes on to learn a big lesson about tolerance and acceptance and embracing our differences.

The other day, one of the instructors at the college where I work handed me a book to read. We had previously talked a bit about our mutual admiration of Mitch Albom and she had just received a copy of his newest non-fiction, Have a Little Faith. It's the story of an old Jewish Rabbi and a middle-aged Christian Pastor and the way their different faiths influenced their very different lives and how it helped them to help others. To me, the biggest lesson to be learned from these two men is that our differences don't have to divide us. They can bring us together because we are all capable of being good people, even if we don't believe the same things.

A day or two ago, my blog friend Pam wrote about the Great Debate: Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays. She talked about how it used to be a huge and supposedly offensive deal to wish a Merry Christmas to someone who didn't celebrate. Now it a huge and apparently offensive deal NOT to say it to those who do. But no one makes a big deal over Hanukkah or Ramadan or Kwanzaa.

(Usually. There are always exceptions.)

And then I got to thinking.

I have NEVER in my life (to my recollection, anyway) been wished a Happy Hanukkah or a Happy Kwanzaa or a Happy Pretty-Much-Any-Other-Winter-Holiday.

(Except Festivus. I do have friends that NEVER miss Festivus.)

(It's for the rest of us!)

Would I be offended if someone wished me a Happy Kwanzaa?

Absolutely not! I think it would be awesome.

I would respond with something like, "Thank you very much. Happy Kwanzaa back. Now can you tell me more about it because I really don't know what it's all about."

And then I got to thinking a little bit more.

Why don't I know more about Kwanzaa? Why is it the only thing I know about Hanukkah is that it involves a menorah and a story about the Maccabees and people get all excited about latkes.

I consider myself a fairly well-rounded person. I know a little bit about a lot of different things. I know the basic concepts of most of the major world religions and I usually know which religious holidays belong to which faiths.

But I want to know more. I want to learn about the traditions behind these thousands-of-years old religious rites and what they mean to the people who practice them.

I really believe that learning more about each other is what will ultimately help us get along, even if we don't all believe the same thing.

If we knew, understood, and respected what others believed, we wouldn't have to worry about offending with a Merry Christmas greeting. Instead, we could smile when they respond with a Happy Hanukkah!

I thoroughly enjoyed Have a Little Faith. I personally believe very differently than the two men at its center, but I found their stories fascinating, inspiring, and beautiful. I want to be a better person now for having learned about them.

And I think that's ultimately what this time of year is all about.