Christmas sends conflicting messages–peace v. purchases, light of wonder v. competitive house lighting. I write a lot about fear, and much of what I see about Christmas is fear based–will I give the right gift? Will I get what I want? Will my family show their love and appreciation or will there be another fight?
On my walk this morning, I saw houses decked out in full lights. I like the lights, but you can tell when someone is an overachiever. I walked in a different direction today, and then I saw this, not a Christmas decoration, just a warning that this family has had up for years:
In case you can’t see it, the stuffed man is hanging from a gallows (notice the “steps” and crossbeam). Wrapped in merry twinkling Christmas lights. Don’t strain to read the sign, I took a better photo of it. Here it is:
This is how these homeowners want to be known. The fading of the sign and the clothing on the dummy shows sun damage, so it’ s been up for awhile. For years I worked on a newspaper as a journalist. I believe in the First Amendment. And I still believe this qualifies as hate speech.
I was horrified, then sad. I haven’t moved from sad much since. I might add that they also had Christmas decorations up. Unless Baby Jesus was weeping in his manger, I just don’t understand how you can welcome Christmas and have this on your lawn, too.
There is much I don’t understand. This is one of those things.
–Quinn McDonald knows the season can be hard on people. She doesn’t think anger or fear do much to help.
QuinnCreative 