TBF: The Holiday Controversy

"Stronger"
By: Trust Co.

Can you save me
or will you fail me now
it's almost over cause your fading out again...

Will you break me
or while you hold me down
I will escape you and I'll...
I'll push you closer to the ground
Cause your the one that's going down...

And I am stronger now
Since you crawled away,
you're so far away.
And I am stronger now
since you crawled away
Since you crawled away

Never gonna save me
you just shut me out
and now it's over cause I'm stepping out again

Never gonna break me
Just try to hold me down
I will escape you
And I'll push you closer to the ground
Cause your the one that's going down...

And I am stronger now
Since you crawled away,
you're so far away.
And I am stronger now
since you crawled away
Since you crawled away

You wanna tear me down
you wanna hold me down
you can't control me now
you cannot take me out
you cannot save me now
because I'm stronger now

And I am stronger now
Since you crawled away,
you're so far away.
And I am stronger now
since you crawled away
Since you crawled away

And I am stronger now
Since you crawled away,
you're so far away.
And I am stronger now
since you crawled away
Since you crawled away

You wanna tear me down
you wanna hold me down
you can't control me now
you cannot take me out
you cannot save me now
because I'm stronger now

It's amazing what can be started with one action. Great loves, war, peace, or something even more powerful. It's often in these moments where one action can open up a whole new door of opportunity, be it for the masses or for just one person. I learned this train of thought about one year ago and with one thought in my mind, I wrote down my feelings not for myself but instead I wrote about how their is a line of compromise between us as a whole and who we are as individuals and that line should be respected. From that one thought I spoke out, I started something inside that wouldn't let me stop and I ended up writing another and another until I created something genuine. I decide to call it...The Brian Factor.

So to help celebrate one year of crazy rants, For this week we're going back to where it all began with the column that started it all. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the first Brian Factor.....


DATED 12/20/05

Welcome to my last column of 2005, this is the Brian Factor...........(hold for applause)

Today the topic is: The Holiday Controversy

THE STORY:

Since the beginning of this month the big deal for our country has been the use of "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" now I normally would offer my two cents on this but I'm holding off until the end for my two cents. So the government namely the religious right want no other holidays reconized by America except christmas and many radical groups have called for boycotts on stores that say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings", while many say Happy Holidays on the grounds that they don't know who celebrates what holiday and they don't want to offend anyone yet they are judged for being open minded to other people's beliefs....

THE REASONING:

Many of the right wings want to turn us into one united christian front a devoted group to Jesus and God and no one else. They feel the only way we can achieve peace is to strip all that we were and basically follow the leader... So the first thing they want is to only celebrate Christmas as the one true holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus.......

MY TWO CENTS:

What the fuck is wrong with these people!!!!!

Look last time I checked the original settlers of our land came here to get away from this exact thing, they didn't want to be told what to believe in or who's God was the right one, they came to live their lives without fear of persecution of thier beliefs. While I am a Christmas man, I also respect another man's beliefs if they're not my own, one of the great things about our country is that we have a rich diversity of people who aren't afraid of they're heritage and proudly celebrate it whatever it was.... Out in the world there are about six holidays this time of year: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukkah, Ramadan and well I forgot the rest but the point is this we all have different traditions, customs, beliefs that our families have upheld since before we were born, and now we have to change that just because it's not what you do......

Who the fuck do you think you are!!!!

I'm proud of my heritage, I'm proud of everyone who celebrate thier customs and legacy with open arms. It's what makes us a great land and it's what the founding fathers fought and died for: a land for all of us to celebrate together. almost every day this past weekend I've ended up at the mall and there I saw people thinking of others devoting the entire day for shopping for the ones they love, I even saw people shopping for people who celebrate different holidays so I don't see what's the big deal. The important thing is that we are giving of ourselves and spending time with those who we love that make us happy, even when we were struck with great tragedy, as a nation we came together and did what was right, if we can work together to help others when they need it... then i'm sure that we can celebrate the good times together. It's only together that we can grow as a society....

THANK YOU ALL AND.......HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!


Until Next.....Year,


-Brian