By Jen Hight

Imagine you are a store employee. When a shopper buys red and green wrapping paper, you smile and say to them “Merry Christmas.” They say, “I’m Jewish.”

To prevent this embarrassing mix up, stores and schools have stopped using the term Christmas and now use “The Holidays.”

Stores and schools are changing to include diverse clients and students.

Store employees have been asked to stop saying “Merry Christmas” and instead say “Happy Holidays.” That’s a step forward.

Target has asked employees to refrain from saying “Merry Christmas” because Target “serves a diverse range of people,” according to Target.com.

Target.com also states store employees have the final decision to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.”

In a couple of days, students will be excused from school for Winter Break, instead of the original Christmas Break.

These changes, made by the district some years ago, were made to accommodate student diversity at Cal..

By changing the name of Christmas Break to Winter Break, Cal is not excluding any of the student population.

Referring to the two-week school hiatus as Christmas Break would show a bias toward followers of Christian beliefs.

The new awareness of the district school board and area stores have allowed more clients and students to be included.

Students of different religions can now be included in winter themed celebrations instead of being excluded from Christmas celebrations on campus.

For instance, the school board changed the names of the Christmas Choir performance to the Winter performance, making sure that everyone in the district is included.

Stores and schools’ political correctness have rightfully continued to evolve, so all religions are included and no one is left out.