1. It’s Monday, November 9, 2015

2. I’ve been up since 4:30 a.m. lamenting the stupidity in our lives. I know, being awake at 4:30 because of the world’s stupidity is, in itself, stupid. So maybe this is a case of “Physician, heal thyself.”

But then I think about the Starbucks’ holiday cup “controversy.” And the agitation over the alleged “War on Christmas.” And I think why, oh why, was I born into a world of such overwhelming, overpowering, monumental stupidity.

There are no designs on Starbucks’ 2015 holiday cups. It’s just red with the Starbucks logo. I think I noticed when I stopped at Starbucks on my way home from my parents’ house for the Oprah Chai Latte. But I didn’t spend much more than 5 seconds thinking about it.

Apparently, there are people who did.

There are people who believe that Starbucks, in removing any designs from this cup, are making an anti-Christmas statement. That this coffeehouse chain is throwing down the gauntlet. By not putting a snowflake, or a snowman, or whatever the hell it put on the cups in years past, Starbucks is smacking the faces of Christmas-celebrating people everywhere. Yet one more incursion into the sanctity that is the Christmas season.

BOOM!

That was the sound of my head exploding.

Christmas is not threatened by the lack of a design on a Starbucks cup. Christmas is not threatened by my wishing you a “Happy Holiday” instead of a “Merry Christmas.” Christmas is not threatened by Wal-Mart talking about holiday sales instead of Christmas sales. Christmas is not threatened if a shopping mall doesn’t put up a tree, if a community doesn’t put up a creche, if a public high school choir doesn’t sing “Silent Night,” if preschool kids light menorahs.

There is no one stopping anyone from celebrating Christmas in the United States in 2015. There is no war on Christmas. There is, however, an understanding that there are people who do not celebrate Christmas, and those of us who do want to share the season somehow with those people. These are our neighbors, friends and colleagues. Along with family, these are who we care about.

The holidays are a time for all to celebrate. If you want to be irritated about something as inconsequential as the design on a Starbucks coffee cup, you sure as hell are going to miss out on the real fun and joy that the season brings.