Happy Holidays?

I'm hoping to explore what exactly holidays are. Holiday is a combination of Holy and Day. We as a nation judge holidays by the Christian calendar. We seem offended when someone else wants respect for their holiday. I was going through school when Jewish holidays were added to the school calendar. I completely support it. I also support Muslim Holidays being added to the calendar. Where do you draw the line? Well I wouldn't expect to go to India, primarily a Hindu/Buddhist country and expect days off for Christian holidays. In America, we have this idea that we are this great melting pot. I say idea because I don't think we are melting together, I think we are actually dividing apart right now. I think we are more of a tossed salad. We have little clusters mixed together. And I fear that we are reverting back to the salad bar, picking bits and pieces we like, and excluding others.


I have heard of other counties across the school which have to make the choice to add Islamic holidays to the calendar and others to exclude them completely. Some have made the call to remove Jewish holidays as well, because school is not a place for religion and therefore if it's your religious holiday, you make the choice to stay home and celebrate, catch up later. I honestly feel this is fair, as long as the school acknowledges and excuses the absence. I will admit I take it for granted that winter and spring breaks coincide with Christmas and Easter. Christmas I understand more because it's the end of the year, Christmas and New Years are close together and it's the point in the year where a break is needed. Easter I could care less if the break coincided. I got used to it in college when spring break was always a month before Easter, I DO however feel that this needs break needs to be more in the middle of the semester, rather than in February like my college used to have it. This may change in the future if I have kids, but I don't see it happening.


Now, off to research a few upcoming holidays. Even ones I know, I don't feel like I know.

New Year, New Plans, New Goals

Everyone makes New Years resolutions. Right? I don't. I don't believe in them. Why? Because why put off starting something that you can start today. Everyone waits to get healthy after the new year. Everyone waits to quit smoking until Monday. They miss the deadline. They forget. They aren't committed. I've always been a big believer in tomorrow is a new day, a new start, what makes that different than new years? Oh right... no champagne. No Glitter. Close your eyes, take a deep breathe. do you really want to meet this goal? Awesome. Right now is a new minute and a perfect start. Good thing I didn't wait until next New Year. I would have forgotten my goal.


My BEST friend in the whole world is planning on reading the entire Bible in a year. So me, having a passion for studying religion, have decided to join her. You can follow her thoughts here.  I studied religion in school. I minored in it, I would have added a second major but financial aid ran out. Just as the program was being expanded to be awesome.



This is the version we are reading. I love it because it has a lot of notes which compare what different translations could have intended, what different beliefs feel about different passages AND its written academically, which means it's a study bible for studying the bible. Not influenced like other study bibles which are for teens, moms, Catholics, singles, gardeners. I went to a Christian book store once and there were 3 isles of bibles. And that didn't include the ones in the Spanish isle. Seriously guys... read for yourself. Don't let the notes sway you and brainwash you. Read and interpret for yourself. What does it mean to you, in your life? Not what does it mean to someone trying to make a buck.


I have struggled to define my views on religion. So I would like to take some time to learn about many things. I was raised Christian, by a very large Methodist family. Although my mothers family whom I am close with are involved church members, my fathers family is not religious, and my father is actually anti-religion. He's not an atheist. My sister is though. He is just not a spiritual man.


I however firmly believe in all religions. I know that doesn't make sense to some people. It's not a salad bar. I don't pick a little of this from that religion and a little of that from that religion. I think it comes down to language. I think as we spread across the world and our languages changed, our words and meanings changed. Like a giant game of telephone that spans the entire globe. I think we just used different ways of expressing the same thing.