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December Is Loaded With Holidays and Not All Are Christian… Let’s Coexist

Dec. 6: Saint Nicholas Day — Christian
This holiday honors the birth of Saint Nicholas, the saint who serves as a role model for gift-giving and is commonly known as Santa Claus, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 8: Rohatsu (Bodhi Day) — Buddhist
This holiday celebrates the historical Buddha’s decision and vow to sit under the Bodhi tree until he reached spiritual enlightenment. It’s celebrated through meditation and is embraced similar to how Christians celebrate Christmas to honor Jesus Christ.
Dec. 8: Immaculate Conception — Catholic
In the lead-up to Jesus’ birthday celebration on Christmas, Catholics celebrate the day of Immaculate Conception to honor his mother Mary, who they say was preserved from original sin for her entire life.
Dec. 10 to 18: Hanukkah — Judaism
This is the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which celebrates the Maccabean revolt in Egypt. Eight candles are lit with a menorah to honor the holiday.
Dec. 12: Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe — Catholic
This is a primarily Catholic holiday celebrated by Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent that honors the reported appearance of the Virgin Mary in Mexico City, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 16: Posadas Navidenas — Christian
This is a primarily Hispanic Christian holiday that commends Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 21: Solstice — Wicca/Pagan
Solstice is the point in the year “when the earth is most inclined away from the sun. It is the most southern or northern point depending on the hemisphere,” according to Interfaith Calendar. Pagans and Wicca believers will celebrate that event through Yule, in which believers also honor “the winter-born king, symbolized by the rebirth of the sun,” Interfaith Calendar explained.
Dec. 25: Christmas — Christian
Christmas is a primarily Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Many will attend church, have family parties and exchange gifts, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 26: Zarathosht Diso (Death of Prophet Zarathustra) — Zoroastrian
Unlike many of the other holidays in the month, Zoroastrians honor the death of their prophet, Zarathustra, who founded Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions.
Dec. 27: Feast of the Holy Family — Catholic
Catholics use this day to honor Jesus, Mary and Joseph, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 28: Holy Innocents Day — Christian
Christians solemnly honor the deaths of children killed by King Herod, who was attempting to kill Jesus, according to Interfaith Calendar.
Dec. 31: Watch Night — Christian
For Watch Night, Christians will thank God for the safety they received during the year, according to Interfaith Calendar.

This is just the latest attempt, on behalf of Florida’s elected officials, to censor speech and silence viewpoints that they disagree with under the false pretense of protecting children. 

I’ve been reading that the recession is over and that many businesses are headed in the right direction again. But, from other sources, I see unemployment is still high, consumers are holding back on purchases, businesses are keeping capital expenses at minimums and economists are concerned for the future. What gives? Are things better or not? Well, I’ve decided that we are in new type of economic climate, best described like a weather report. Scattered thundershowers are in the forecast. Some pockets are getting rained on and some are looking at nothing but blue skies.

That’s great if you’re one of the lucky ones that are doing well, but what are the others to do; head to the park and pretend everything is great, play a little Frisbee, walk the dog! I don’t think so.

We need to begin to look at how to approach a new economy that will provide jobs and income to those who want to work. It’s obvious to many that it will be a long time ,if ever, before we regain the type of expanding economy that drove wealth in the post war (WWII) period through ’90s. We are in need of new driving forces. The auto, housing, technology, durable goods markets are changed forever. They have been either exported or saturated.

What do we do next? We look for leaders that inspire. Not the run-of-the-mill types that are so wound up in their own agendas that they can’t look for the greater good, but those that understand we can’t look back or hope that we can just wait it out.

I hope we have some people like that… we need ’em now. I’m tired of just taking a walk around the park over and over again.

Everyone sure would like to see full beaches once again, and eating Gulf Seafood should be mandatory in my book. I was especially pleased to see that civic and community leaders in the Gulf Coast region have finally come together to form a coalition that may actually do something about the future of the area. Mobile Mayor, Sam Jones is featured in a You Tube video that describes the group and its goals. They’re looking to accomplish some pretty meaningful things. Let’s hope they can manage to move quickly.

We may need to move from baby steps to giant leaps pretty soon.

UPDATE: USA Today had a good print story related to this problem recently.

Additional USA Today video story link.

Nice to see someone paying attention.

It’s amazing how some people seem focused on short term tactics rather than long term strategic planning. I just read that Courteney Cox was scheduled to do a PSA spot for Alabama’s beaches. Her spot will likely be rotated with another featuring Taylor Hicks promoting our coast. Lucy Buffett (Jimmy’s sister) did a spot that has been airing for a short period already. All of that is great, I’ve been asking for this sort of thing for more than two months. We certainly can stand the favorable publicity. But wait, they just plugged the hole, didn’t they? For weeks everyone has been proclaiming the beaches clean and clear anyway.

Hey guys, school starts back next week. I know revenues from tourism spread throughout the year. People have been headed south during the fall and winter months for years. Do you think those people don’t know the oil has stopped flowing? Of course they do. The biggest issue we faced for the past month or so has been the uncertainty. With the oil flowing, it might hit the beaches and spoil my vacation. That part seems over (we hope) and perception will be that the beaches are once again in great shape. News coverage of the mess has begun to dwindle already and everyone’s breathing easier, right!

Let’s look at the issues and possible solutions. Tourism has suffered greatly. It’ll come back. Taxes from lodging are way off. That will come back, too. Retailers and restaurants who have suffered actual losses will be compensated and for those people next year will be better. What about those poor souls who actually made their living from the sea. The fishermen of the Gulf have suffered enormous losses. They’ll be compensated to some degree, but as the all-clear sounds for tourists, the dinner bell isn’t ringing for gulf coast seafood (particularly oysters and shrimp).

The campaign we really need is one that support our fishing industry. Let’s do something about that. Maybe Courteney can eat a bunch of shrimp and down a few oysters in the commercial. Mmm-good would go a long way in helping a group that may be all but forgotten in this whole mess.

Goodbye Bayou La Batre… (Hey Jimmy, think about that for a song title)

Notice anything unusual about my beach photos? I spent the past week at the Gulf Coast and it was great… (for me). I can’t say the same for thousands of others who work there. I love a secluded beach, they don’t. I know the PR and marketing efforts have been churning out favorable beach forecast for the most part, but it has been confusing. Louisiana seems to have the biggest problem (from the newscast I’ve seen), but they really don’t have beaches there anyway, so, what’s the problem? Mississippi has been advertising a lot. They tout the fine beaches and no oil problems (of course the gambling industry has their agenda, too). Alabama doesn’t seem to have much of a beach problem, but, they either don’t have the money or the know-how to take advantage of the PR Buffett brought to the area.

That leaves Florida, the sunshine state. Last week there was plenty of sunshine, pristine beaches and ample room for people to spread out all over the place (at least from Destin to Apalachicola). We were thanked profusely by almost every shop owner and restaurateur we encountered (just for coming down).

Things will change, people will return and life will go on, but, there are many who will not make it. I saw empty buildings, vacancy signs everywhere and no lines at the restaurants we visited. We rented a boat on the morning we wanted to go out (they were never available that late before) and beach chairs were open from one end of the beach to the other. How can these people ever make up what has been lost.

As I have discussed before, the media is losing interest. If the capping goes well, we may not hear much about the Gulf Coast until another hurricane heads this way. Who’s stepping up and looking out for the future of the area? I’ve tried to get a multi-state forum and conference going to explore these areas, but, it seems each state is looking out for its own interest (understandable). Maybe this would be a good time for the new leadership at BP to step out in front of the issue and call for this type of meeting. It could go a long way in addressing the needs of the communities and of supporting BP’s need for positive public relations.

Now that the leak has stopped, national coverage will also begin to dwindle (unless it blows again). So, what next? Businesses and individuals along the coast will still need support for years to come. Maybe the tourist industry rebounds quickly, they have funds to promote the industry. It’s another story for commercial fishermen (and small businesses), they’ll need years to regain their pre-bp positions.

What if some creative marketing professionals went to work on a plan and a campaign to brand and support “Gulf Coast Catches” and even provided production pro bono. How about producing PSA’s and securing time and space across the county promoting products from the Gulf region.

Anyone is welcome to take the idea and run with it.