Muslims and Hindus and Jews, Oh My!

So, last week, Christmas trees appeared in all the lobbies at work. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but now they look kind of naked without a menorah on one side and a kinara on the other. I like Christmas lights as well as the next Jew,* but I do appreciate some acknowledgment that Christmas isn't the only game in town anymore. The lack of that acknowledgment occasioned some comment in my office among non-Christians and Christians alike.

To me both the event and the reaction are signs that corporate Diversity messages are starting to percolate through, but there are still people, in management and otherwise, who profoundly Don't Get It. I just get the mental image of those people stumbling through a changed world like Dorothy through the dark and creepy forest of Oz, peering over their shoulders for the strange and threatening creatures who loom from the shadows.

*Of course, I did write a multipage poem to President Nixon complaining about the lack of equal time for Hannukah. I remember two lines: "But when I walk the streets at night/Why see I only Christmas lights?" Well, what do you want? I was only 10.