Halt to San Jose kindergartners’ Santa visit angers parents

[Igel]

16. Yes, it's okay for kids to feel left out.

They are. That's how it works when you're not part of the majority.

If you keep kosher, you're left out of crawfish and crab feasts.

If you're allergic to fur, you don't go to the petting zoo.

If you get seasick, you don't go on the fishing trip.

If there's a musical field trip X and you really hate X, you don't go unless there's a good academic reason.

I don't observe Xmas. Others do; so be it, I'm not going to tell them to be quiet and act like they don't because it might hurt my feelings.

When in another country for a while, I didn't expect people to use only English any more than the Russians expected them to learn Russian, the Germans expected them to learn German and the French expected them to learn ... (Well, skip that last bit, the French felt it appropriate to expect everybody to know French.) In other words, itt was appropriate to learn the relevant local language. Sometimes the majority does have rights, not just unjust privileges that must be fought. In Nogales, hucksters and shopkeepers learn English not as a concession to my human dignity but because they want to sell me something. If I wander off the tourist track and only encounter Spanish, my "right" to the dignity of my native language is worth precious little, and appropriately so.