If you are like me, outward signs of allegiance to one cause or another or demonstrations of your religious beliefs in public are only causes for trouble rather than proving anything about your beliefs.  Anyone, for any reason, can put up religious symbols or carry a signs and do so just for political or economic expediency.  One of the problems of THE holiday season is the unpacking last year’s decorations and then prominently display them as though you supported all the beliefs contained within them for the entire year.  That would really be a heroic and exhausting demonstration of your faith: to be faithful all the time throughout your life with no deviations or forgetfulness.

I read in the times this morning of a Jewish mother with her children’s Catholic father mixing the messages of beliefs by a silent war of symbols.  This is very sad.  The children grow up not knowing if they are “Christmas” or “Chanukah” which is very important to the neighborhood gangs of children who accept you on the basis of this very important distinction.  And, then, there are the windows in our Condominium.  Some have menorahs in their windows facing the outside.  There are very few these days for the original inhabitants have all died and their children do not want to live in this building that was so attractive last Century.  We burrowed through a lot of stuff and found our electrified menorah and put it in the window facing the building on the other side of the parking area.  It will have three lights tonight for we only leave the bulbs lit during the darkness.  I pulled the plug this morning and it will be put in again tonight when evening pulls the shade down over the dwindling daylight.

Our building is a mixed building just like families with mixed marriages.  We have the same rush to display symbols that were put away after last year and only brought out in time for the High Holy Days of Jews and Christians.  We do not make much of Kwanza or Ramadan nor see signs of any other devotional group.  Chanukah came earlier than Christmas and our eight days will be over before Christmas is actually here.  But, you know? – Christmas came before Thanksgiving this year just like the campaigning for next year’s election began last year.

It is clear to me that there are no mixed messages in this Condominium.  You either have something in your window or not.  One family goes overboard and puts lights on the shrubbery on “common” property.  But that is all right with us and the Board of Directors O.K.’s Christmas Greetings on the Lobby entrance for that is the kind of country we live in.  Well, now, since our menorah is in the window everyone knows we are Chanukah and not Christmas.