Dear Readers:
Publisher / Team Captain Anthony Joseph, Editor Brad Savage and all crew members here at The Caribbean Camera wish you and your families a mightily Merry Christmas!
By that we mean lots of love and sharing, lots of family and social gatherings, lots of generosity towards those in need and, within the limits of healthy living, lots of food, drink, music and other forms of entertainment.
The specific context of those greetings and wishes happens to be the Christmas season in which Christians rejoice over the birth of Jesus Christ.
But since this festive time of the year is equally significant for two other cultural communities, we also extend Festive Greetings to all those who celebrate the Jewish festival Hanukkah and the Pan-African holiday Kwanza.
In doing so, we are re-emphasizing the principle that respect and appreciation for all communities, cultures and faith-based belief systems do not prevent us from addressing the traditional “Merry Christmas” greeting to the public at large. Political correctness does have its practical limits, as do so many other subjective aspects of our human existence.
It is precisely in the spirit of such responsible and caring sensitivity to issues of political correctness that our Caribbean Camera crew is particularly pleased to deliver greetings to our Muslim Brothers and Sisters here in Canada.
We feel that, at this festive time for our Christians, Jews and Pan-Africanists, there is a special reason why all Canadians should be happy that we are celebrating our respective faiths and cultures.
We are blessed to belong to a country that has just recently used the democratic weapon of the federal ballot box to reject and dismiss the bigotry, disrespect and discrimination inflicted on our Muslim Brothers and Sisters by a leader, a party and a government whose misbehavior in that regard had brought shame, scandal and divisiveness to our Canadian family.
Hopefully, that sad episode is now behind us. Let us work towards a new era, beginning with a happy, constructive and fruitful New Year for all Canadians.
In our focus on the economic and socio-economic needs of our society, let us give high priority to the most vulnerable, disenfranchised and marginalized among us.
Many Christians express their gratitude for our material and other blessings with the phrase “Praise the Lord!” Today, we are making a point of order by the way in which we choose to express our gratitude for the blessings that we enjoy.
Our three thankful exclamations are easily recognized and understood.
Merry Christmas!
A healthy and happy New Year!
“Allahu Akbar!” (“God is great!”)