I was in a mall not long ago (doing my Christmas -- not 'holiday' -- shopping) when I happened to sneeze. A little girl walking nearby, maybe five or six, turned to me and sing-songed, "Bless you!" Before I even had a chance to smile back at her, the woman whose hand she was holding snapped, "No! We say 'gesundheit!" She then turned to me and said, and I quote: "Sorry."
Sorry? I was so shocked I just stared at her until she dragged the confused little girl away.
When did saying "bless you" become such an offense that children are disciplined in public over it, and when did saying it become something to apologise for? What kind of person could possibly be offended by someone saying 'bless you' when he or she sneezed?
Well, it's obvious, isn't it? The same kind of people who work to ban Christmas songs from public schools. The same kind of people who go ballistic over displays of Christian theological imagery during holidays based on Christian theology. (Christmas trees and Santa Claus are secular symbols, according to the Supreme Court. There's not a lot of evergreens in Bethlehem, and that red furry suit would have been too hot even at night.) The same kind of people who want to ban displays of the Ten Commandments from courthouses in which laws based upon them are supposedly upheld.
In three words: Liberals, of course.
I'm not a religious person by any means; I'm agnostic. That's my choice. You make yours, other people make theirs, and we all live with that. That's America; that's the First Amendment. When someone says "bless you" to me, or tells me they'll pray for me (my grandmother surely wore out several sets of rosary beads that way), or wishes for "the Goddess", Buddha, or any other divine or semi-divine being to watch over me, I'm not offended. I always thank them for their good wishes. I understand one important thing that Liberals don't seem able to grasp.
It's not about me or my faith (or lack thereof)... it's about THEIRS.
When someone expresses a wish that a divine Being in whom they actually believe might take the time to do something nice for me or mine, how could it possibly be offensive unless I'm so wrapped up in my own self that I think my worldview is the only one that matters?
Saying things like "God Bless America" or "Merry Christmas" causes Liberals to sneer condescendingly about easily-led sheep blinded by religion. Well, what about those driven by hatred of religion? Are they any less blind?
