Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Poo Pooing the Pageants

First I would like to clearly state that I am a faithful Christian.  I am in church every Sunday and I try to live my Christian values in my daily life.

That said - I'm really starting to loathe Christmas pageants.  I think the biggest clue is that they are called a "pageant".  Pageants are a parading of people - and that's how I always feel about Christmas pageants.  Let's just parade everyone's child up and down so pictures can be taken.  Sometimes the performance attempts to recount the Christmas story.  But it is so dis-contiguous that it looses all meaning.  Why can't we have a St. Patrick's Day pageant?

And at this time of year people commonly say they don't need one more event to go to.  Yet every place seems to think they have to cram in their event.  Why don't work places have a spring barbecue instead of a Christmas party?  I would be just as happy with a door prize in April as I would in December.

I asked my daughter, the psychology student, why we need pageants.  She said it is for the joy for the children.  And while it is true that my nine year old was very proud of his recent participation in his school pageant, I think he would have been equally as proud if he had played the part of St. Valentine in February.

Surely we should be spending the holiday season on family traditions and time with loved ones.  Besides - when have you ever heard anyone say, "I'm a successful [doctor/lawyer/nobel prize winner] because I was in a Christmas pageant!"?

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