I’m not sure if the term “conscious unawareness” will catch on and make headlines like “conscious uncoupling” did for Gwyneth Paltrow, but you never know. I’m defining it as the willful effort to not take everything as a slight.

With the holidays upon us, there is constant chatter about how Christmas is losing its status. People aren’t saying “Merry Christmas” anymore and this is offensive to some. Somehow, the phrase “Happy Holidays” is stripping them of their Christianity. I think everyone has heard about the insensitivity of Starbucks with the introduction of the plain red cups. Another slap in the face to those who celebrate Christmas.

Fortunately for me, I am blissfully unaware of these slights. If someone says to me “Happy Hanukkah” I don’t get offended. I reply “thank you.” I don’t worry that my christian faith has been slighted. So what if I don’t celebrate, there’s nothing offensive about that statement. Where did we lose our ability to be gracious?

As for the Starbucks thing, there’s hardly any reasonable explanation as to why people are up in arms with the introduction of the red cup. At the same time people are offended by the lack of Christmas on their coffee cup, they are outraged at the sight of Christmas items in the store already. I guess since I worked a time in retail, I understand the importance of the sales in the 4th quarter so while I think it is crazy to have Christmas stuff out at Halloween, I’m not going to get too worked up about it.

Same is true if people mispronounce my name. Or call me ma’am, which I hate, because I’m not that old, but I take these things in stride. People trying to be polite. Why can’t we be polite back? So, I’m practicing my conscious unawareness. I’m saving up the righteous behavior for something that really matters.