Which Holidays Should Government Recognize?

If we took off every holiday, we wouldn’t really get much work done would we? But the question is why some holidays and not others? The federal government recognizes Christmas but not Mawlid and New Year’s Day but not the Orthodox and lunar new year. Even Washington’s Birthday but not Lincoln’s.

Honestly, I think that our government has WAY more important things to worry about than what holidays should students not have class so they can sleep in and get drunk. With that said, it is strange to think about how the government determines what holidays we as a society have “off.”

The main issue with this comes down to religious diversity and if it is time for the federal, state and local government to recognize other religious’ holidays. I mean in most school nowadays, students and staff are directed to say “winter concerts” instead of Christmas concerts and “Happy Holidays” at Christmastime.

Why is it just that Christians get to live in a society that is familiar to them and with them. “Americans shouldn’t hesitate to say ‘Merry Christmas,’ as long as they know when to say ‘Happy Diwali,’ ‘Eid Mubarak’ and ‘Joyous Passover,’” an associate professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Khyati Y. Joshi said. Many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and that is why the government recognizes them.

I believe the issue of what holidays we should and should not have off will always be a talked about thing just because our country us becoming more and more diverse. America is a place of many faiths and traditions. Obviously there are some holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July that our country thinks are more important to celebrate than ones like Valentines Day and St. Patrick’s Day.

I don’t think many people can say that they do not love holidays. It’s a day off from work, often a three-day weekend to travel or relax. All holidays should be recognized, important to you or not. But we should just be thankful for the holidays the government does give.

2013 Holiday Schedule