To the Journal editor:

I ventured forth on Friday evening to observe how my town officially celebrates an international religious holiday.

First stop was the Peter White Public Library, which was adorned with decorated, artificial evergreen trees. The collective display is entitled “A Winter Wonderland Walk.” They sure look an awful lot like… But they aren’t even holiday trees.

Holiday.

Then I walked over to Third Street to watch a parade, The Winter Snow Fun Holiday Parade.

The night sky was not full of giant floating balloon figures. Nor was the street crowded with large intricate floats adorned with flowers, vegetation and attractive people. I did, however, see Santa Claus, and everyone was calling “Merry Christmas!”

Hmm …

I followed the happy crowd down town to the tree lighting. The tree is a large real evergreen, adorned with a myriad of little sparking lights, which we used to call … oh, what were they? And the tree reminded me of a …

Hmm … again.

Obviously, I was missing something here. Two different realities just weren’t calibrating. Now, there are those who find the inane semantic contortions to be mildly amusing. Then there are those who find them simply embarrassing.

As for me, I just want to see what I’m supposed to see and so I’ve scheduled an appointment with the optometrist to get my eyes checked.

Still, I couldn’t help but remember the words of a very wise old philosopher: “Take away a nation’s heritage and they are more easily persuaded.” — Karl Marx