Bigotry and Narrow-Mindedness Put a Damper on the Greendale Holiday Concert Series

By now we have all read that the They cited the lyrics which proclaim, "God and Allah are your names" as their reasoning for being "offended" by the song. The parent said that the child would not participate in the concert if made to sing the "offensive" song.

Here is the problem - the song was to be sung in Hindu, not English, so unless your children are fluent in Hindu, or the parents look up the lyrics and tell the children what they are singing, the kids would simply assume they are singing a beautiful song from a different culture - Silly children . . . they should be so gullible and simple-minded as to enjoy a song for the pure enjoyment of the sound of it.

Another problem with the whole debacle is that songs from other religions are religions (Judaism, Christianity) are still allowed in the concert series. And I know for a fact that we have children of the Hindu faith in our school system, but does anyone care how offended they might be that they are "forced" to sing Christmas songs, but not allowed to sing a popular Hindu song?

Plus the fact that "Christmas" itself is a Christian holiday (actually, versions of December 25 celebrations go much further back in history than the birth of Christ).

Why are we catering to intolerance in bigotry? Why are we letting one narrow-minded "adult" teach a lesson in hypocrisy and hatred to our children? Children are not political or religious, parents are . . . and now we have allowed ONE person to teach our children that they do not have to accept other religions or practices as their equal. We have taught our children that they do not have to be made aware of other cultures and practices.

In a related note, at parent-teacher conferences the other week I was made aware that my daughter had been crying in music class whenever the class practiced singing "Wave Your Flag", the popular World Cup song, which they will be singing in the holiday concert.  After some diligent digging by my wife and I we discovered that is was a plethora of reasons that my daughter felt "uncomfortable" singing the song: Half of it is in Spanish, and she is not confident in her Spanish, it reminds her of playing soccer, which was not a good experience for her, and she has to wave a flag, and since she is ultra-shy and does not want to draw attention to herself, this song means disaster for her.

But did my wife and I threaten to pull her from the concert because it was in Spanish or we don't like soccer, or my daughter is scared stiff to stand in front of a crowd of people? Hell no. We talked to her and told her to finish what she started and found a Spongebob version of "Wave Your Flag" on youtube and have found a way to make the song HER song. She still does not want to sing the song, but she will stand up there and look pretty if she wants to eat at after the event.

Personally, I grew up Catholic and attended private religious schools most of my life, but I enjoy and always look forward to the wide variety of songs from different cultures and religions that I hear every year at my kids' concerts. And let's be honest here - with all of the classes that need to sing two songs, and only so many holiday songs out there, why not throw in a popular Hindu song, especially when we have Hindu children standing up next to Christians and Muslims?

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree." ~ Albert Einstein

"Don't pee on my kids' tree and tell them it's raining." ~ Jason Patzfahl