2005.02.17
Happy Holidays or What?
…that robot in their brains calling out to the other robot’s ears…
I guess I’m thinking about this because it was just Valentine’s Day, but why is it we have such a penchant for wishing people a “happy” holiday?
Happy Valentine’s, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays around about Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza, Happy New Year, and Happy Bloody Birthday, you old fart. Do we wish people a happy time because we think they won’t without words of encouragement? Could it be that we secretly hope they won’t be happy at all and it’s a subtle sarcasm? Could it be such a habit that we don’t even know what we are saying anymore?
I wouldn’t wish anyone to be unhappy (well, maybe a few special individuals), but their day is going to be what it’s going to be and all the well wishing in the world isn’t going to change that. I think most of us know this so I will discount this notion and put it in the bargain bin. Looking at that list of holidays, though, I can see many of them are filled with expectations. Expectations of love or romance, or getting along with your family, or what gifts you’re giving/getting, or what to expect for the rest of the year.
These expectations build up and they can only let us down, at least most of the time. The only exception seems to be Halloween where we’re so relieved to not have any expectations we party like maniacs. After many years, though, we expect the party to continue unabated and suddenly -whoops!- we have another expectation.
I don’t think most people even think about the words they are saying. They say them out of habit, that robot in their brains calling out to the other robot’s ears as they say goodbye for these holidays… And this, I believe, is the key to why we use the prefix “happy-” even if repetitively and unthinkingly. These holidays are time off from the usual drudgery of school and work. Even if the prospect of facing our family can fill us with dread, or we haven’t figured out our costumes, or we haven’t made reservations at the fancy restaurant our significant other expects us to take them to… at least we aren’t at work, or at school!
It is such a relief to escape from the daily routine that sometimes we are, indeed, happy.
Categorized: thoughts
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3 Responses to “Happy Holidays or What?”
- NHK says (February 17th, 2005 at 06:49:43 )
Hmmm…This has me thinking
1: I don’t wish for *everyone* to have a happy holiday. In fact, I purposely refrain from wishing certain people a happy holiday. Enough said about that.
2: When I *do* wish someone a happy holiday, even if just in passing, I tend to mean it.- dugh says (February 18th, 2005 at 06:02:32 )
I guess the question I have
Is whether, when you do wish someone a happy holiday and you mean it, whether this is premeditated, or do you in retrospect think back and say, “Yeah, that’s OK, I like him so I hope he really is happy.” I think I’m not being very clear there, but I’m tired and it’s the end of the day, so I know I’m not rendering thoughts to words effectively.- NHK says (February 20th, 2005 at 09:01:19 )
For the most part, premeditated. Sleep Now.
