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Season’s Greetings

It’s happened!

In a pluralistic world, it’s increasingly hard to know what to say at this time of year.

“Merry Christmas” is great but not everyone is a Christian. Having lived in Jerusalem, I know that 12/25 is just another day for Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians. I find people are happily surprised to have a pastor recognize their traditions too.

“Seasons Greetings” is safe. “Holiday wishes” sounds somewhat contrived.

But I just heard myself say, “Happy year-end!” to a board member.

Happy year end?

Yikes. Can you tell I’ve been answering year end giving questions all day?

And it has nothing to do with the yearend 20% off sale I’m having at Fundraisingcoach.com store for blog and ezine folks!

[A colleague just told me, “At least you didn’t say ‘Happy rear end’! 🙂 ]

Other Possibly Related posts:

  1. New Prius
  2. Ben Franklin
  3. Shanah Tovah
  4. First Impressions
  5. Tax Day

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Marc A. Pitman

Marc A. Pitman helps leaders lead their teams with more effectiveness and less stress. The author of "Ask Without Fear!®," he is the founder of The Concord Leadership Group and FundraisingCoach.com. He's also the executive director of TheNonprofitAcademy.com and an Advisory Panel member of Rogare, a prestigious international fundraising think tank. He is the husband to his best friend and the father of three amazing kids. And if you drive by him on the road, he’ll be singing 80’s tunes loud enough to embarrass his family! You can connect with him on Google+, on Twitter @marcapitman, and like "Ask Without Fear!" on Facebook. To get his free ebook on 21 ways to get board members engaged with fundraising, go to http://thenonprofitacademy.com/21waysebook

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Rich December 19, 2007

    yeah… you’ve probably read about our ‘Seasonal Party’ we had here…

    stoopid PC…..

  2. Marc December 21, 2007

    But I betcha didn’t see “Happy Rear End” on any banners, huh?

  3. Stephen December 21, 2007

    (Found you through chrisbrogan.com.) It’s difficult to know what to say in a secular company that’s all gung-ho about inclusion and not offending anyone. ‘Happy Holidays’ sounds so bland, so sanitary, so…unemotional. ‘Merry Christmas’ is awkward because I have no idea whether the person I’m speaking to might be atheist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or something else entirely. A frustrating thing. 🙁

  4. Marc December 26, 2007

    Stephen: I agree!

    The hospital I work at still does an Easter Egg hunt. When I first got here, after living in Boston and NY for over a decade, I wanted to say, “Don’t you know you can’t do that anymore?”

    Then I realized I was a pastor in the community and decided to just simply enjoy the 1950’s-ness of it all. 🙂

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