I just finished visiting my good friend Fr. Michael at the  Samaritan House homeless shelter. I brought him goodies I knew he would like…..a pack of two dollar bills. This way he can be Santa without looking ostentatious. He is one of the most charitable and kind people I know. He made me think of Dr. Nancy Sneiderman’s comments on the Today show as they were discussing the holidays. She stated,”Religion is what mucks the whole thing up.” My thoughts weren’t so much outrage as much as bewilderment. Have we truly forgotten the way Christmas got started? Are we that far removed?

Then I was sent the following by a friend. It just sums things up for me. I hope Ben Stein does not mind me stealing it. He read it during the broadcast of CBS Sunday News. Ben’s forte is money and investing but he can be my sage anytime.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crib, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said okay. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said okay.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with, “we reap what we sow.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it…. no one will know you did. But if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards,

Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein”

And to all of you a Merry Christmas. Hug your family, dogs or just someone on the street. Instead of worrying about what you are going to get just think about giving of yourself.  Thank you all for being such good friends and putting up with my musings. We all have mailing lists. I hope you send this to yours.

As Always

Ted The Great

Santa needs fighter escorts. To hit all the homes it is estimated he cruises at 650 miles a second  and in that time makes it down 822 chimneys per second. If you object to the fighters,get a life.

There are 60 million Xmas trees cut annually in Europe. It takes 15 years for the tree to mature. For every one cut, there are three planted. You can actually eat the tree. It is a good source of roughage and Vitamin C. We are now producing upside down artificial trees so you can get more presents under them. I can’t make this stuff up.

St Francis was the first to start singing carols in church in the 13th century

The long build up for Christmas shopping started in WW II so you could make sure the packages arrived in time overseas. What’s our excuse now?