Give Wreath A Chance!
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
It’s beginning to act a lot like Christmas everywhere you go including Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Hubs over at Artifacting found a news story about a woman who has stirred up ‘controversy’ due to a Christmas wreath that just happens to be in the shape of a 60’s peace sign. Thus far the ‘offensive’ wreath is still up and the arguments being used to remove the wreath are becoming more asinine as the battle gets more over-the-top.
Lisa Jensen is the cause of all this wasted energy. She put the wreath up on her home in a subdivision of around 200 homes in the spirit of peace and says she had no ulterior motives and that the symbol is simply about peace as it pertains to spirituality. There was no other reason she said she had; however, people in the community have projected their own meaning onto her decoration.
The current president of the Home Owners Association, Bob Kearns, who will from now on be known as Baby Scrooge (or BS), said, "We have had three or four complaints." Three or four complaints? There are 200 homes in the subdivision. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say only two people live in each house. That’s at least 400 people living in the subdivision. Doing the math…. carry the decimal… that’s 1% of the population of the subdivision — at the most. Obviously this is hardly the majority or even enough to back any action in my opinion.
BS then gave this as a reason, "Some people have kids in Iraq and they are sensitive." Again, this is projection. Why would these people’s minds automatically jump to the conclusion that Jensen put the wreath up as a protest to the Iraq war? I guess they are sensitive, which I will not mock them for here; however, I will say this: Do you love your kids? Do you not want to see them back? Peace would certainly make sure that they would no longer be in danger of dying in a war. I would think you would embrace an end to the aggression and killing. Guess what? That’s called peace, people. Anyone who wants peace also wants your kids to come home safely. That’s the point of being in support of peace.
He also claims that some believe the symbol to be a sign of Satan. It is not. The biggest problem with meddlers — if I can borrow that from Hot Doctor Wife — is that they only use history when it gets them what they want. Meddlers never compare their current ‘righteous’ actions with those of the past otherwise they would see that they are making a mistake. Again. Symbols are indeed powerful; however, they take on different meanings during different periods of time. The inverted crucifix was used by Romans nearly 2,000 years ago and, yes, satanists used it in their rituals 500 years after the Romans (see? full disclosure here); however, (and with only two minutes of my life used to look it up) the peace symbol that we know today was made to mean ‘nuclear disarmament’.
☮ = 
+ 
It’s a combination of the letters ‘N’ and ‘D’ in semaphore and was developed in early 1958 by Gerald Holtom thus giving the inverted crucifix a new meaning. Like people, symbols can be worked to have their direction changed, but the symbol doesn’t care that it’s being manipulated. It is, after all, only a symbol. It’s people that give it meaning be it for good, bad or some shade of grey.
And now for my favorite part of our story:
The subdivision’s convenants [SIC] say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee. When Kearns ordered the association’s architectural control committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath removed, they refused. Jack Lilly, chairman of the group, said it decided it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn’t say anything. Lilly also said he had received no complaints from homeowners.Kearns fired all five members of the committee.
Let’s repeat that: BS fired the entire committee. If I were a political cartoonist, I would be inspired to draw BS as a man-child swaddled in a diaper in his office surrounded by his HOA rules. His head would be thrown back with tears flying from his tightly-closed eyes. The mouth would be open in a Charlie Brown scream: "YOU’RE FIRED, BOB CRATCHITS!!". The office would be in shambles due to his tantrum. The members of the control committee would be leaving with their heads bowed, but their faces would be broken with a smile so sardonic there would be no doubt of the relief of being outta there — almost as if an abusive father had just died.
I wonder if it would make BS and those very, very few complainers happier if Jensen were to join the NRA, buy a rifle, shoot and kill a dove, have it stuffed, cram an olive branch into its dead, useless beak, wrap the entire ornament in colored, blinking lights and mount it on her house as a symbol that she desired peace in the world for her holiday wish. It certainly would seem to be the current American way: killing an innocent just to appease an ignorant, vocal minority.
Listening to: Cope - The Futureheads
UPDATE: Yes, a Web Pen first. An update BEFORE the post goes up. Hubs just sent me an urgent message to read the latest on this story before I posted. It turns out that the house in question received an early Christmas present last night — a letter of apology from the HOA. The wreath gets to stay up! You see the power of blogging? Things change by just thinking about posting something.
Obviously I’m kidding. The cool thing is the amount of support they received. From calls offering to pay the fine to keep the wreath up to people from around the world voicing their concern including South America, the Netherlands AND troops in Baghdad. From now on, why don’t we let the women and men serving America speak for themselves?
November 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I stand by my thoughts that someone needs to decorate his yard tonight. Spreading love, peace and satanic worship for everyone!! Yay!
PS Freaking meddlers. My mother in law is BAD. Miss President of her HOA, griping about cars on ‘her’ side of the street? We haven’t once asked permission for anything from our HOA, and if they ever did fine us, I’d probably pay up in pesos.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Scratch that. Make that Monopoloy money.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Ironically, HOAs everywhere are satanic cults. Little known fact.
I also read this morning that several members of the HOA board had to change their phone numbers. Ha!
November 28th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
HDW: With the Church Of Bob dad over the Monopoly Guy.
Cliz: Yes, I agree. My friend, Hayes, who can’t get his condo sold is not allowed to rent it out at least due to the HOA. I need to see if he’s asked them to change that in emergency situations.
November 28th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
This has to be the most kick-ass fucking fantastic post you’ve ever made to this blog, at least from the many articles I’ve read to date. Wow. This is bloody good writing about an outrageous event, with real passion to the telling. How stupid and pathetic bigots are! What fools to live their lives chasing pettiness and living in fear of the other?
Man, you’ve given me a timely confidence boost over my own considerably more leftwards leanings. It’s great to be open-minded! To be tolerant! To be loving! And, of course, to get angry if you’re getting angry about the right things…
If you don’t add this IMMEDIATELY to your favourite posts listings, I will personally tread water to come over and give you a kicking. Okay? >;-)
November 28th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
There’s a guest bedroom here. Yes, I’m going to add this and the Captain & Tennille one over there. I read the C&T post tonight at the Rodents show and it went over very well.
November 28th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Hey Howard, unfortunately, the homeowners come out in force to fight any changes to the rental policy! Being on the Board myself I have seen it in all it’s horiffic glory when the homeowners gang up on the one person asking to ease the rental policy. So, no, I won’t be able to get the policy changed anytime soon. :(
I can say that we thankfully have never told anyone they couldn’t have a peace wreath on their door!
November 29th, 2006 at 12:09 am
Then it’s official - HOA’s are jerks! If I’m in the position to buy property, I will make sure it is in a place that has no HOA. I realize they are put there to help in some instances, but I think it gives some unfortunate people more power than they can handle.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Yes, I noticed on your last.fm profile - when did that site get so much better in function and design? - that Captain & Tennille are your most-played music, so whoever they are, they must have something. This HOA talk.. Are such things like housing associations in the UK, where large blocks of land are bought by them, housing built and then rented out? We used to have council houses, still do in some places, but increasingly local authorities are selling them, palming them off to private companies to do the upkeep.
Although I’m no fan of privatisation here - selling to a few of us the things we all, each of us in the UK, already owned - the housing associations tend to do a much better job these days than the councils. Rents are much higher than in the US, and the average price of a house in the UK now stands at over £250,000, an impossible sum for many people. When you consider for a mortgage you usually in the UK can only borrow up to three times your salary, it doesn’t take much thinking to realise as things stand many people have no hope of owning their own home because the most they could borrow, even couples, is, say, £90,000.
This is why so many people local to areas such as towns and villages are pushed out by commuters, who in turn offer nothing to local communities because they do all their spending in the cities and don’t engage with their neighbours. I keep hoping for a price crash, but the higher the house prices go, the more painful the correction will be when it inevitably, surely, one day comes… x
November 29th, 2006 at 1:45 am
I forgot to add when we bought our London flat - a tiny little box, albeit one we have fond memories of doing up and maintaining - it was £79,000 in 2000 and was bought in the only area of the city that provided housing at that price. So it wasn’t a great area. We sold it last year for £149,000.
The mortgage was £550 a month and we now rent a house in the countryside, far from the capital, for £495. Better to rent a house than buy a box, all told.
I believe if you want to work out US dollar equivalents, it’s… um… well, add a heck of a lot more numbers and change to a dollar sign. Man, that’s helpful I know… I’m a writer not a banker… I know for some reason that $75 is roughly 30 quid. Don’t quote me on that, I may be horribly wrong. :-) x
November 29th, 2006 at 1:46 am
And we may take up that offer of a room next year if we can realise our dream of a real, BIG, holiday break. x
November 29th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Thank you for this article and update. My initial response before the update was to state that perhaps these offended parents should speak to their own kids who are serving or a vet. Most of my family has served either in the US or Canadian military and I have yet to meet a solider who does not wish for peace. How timely as well, is Christmas not supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill towards our fellow man? I’m happy to hear that the wreath stays .. :)
November 29th, 2006 at 11:01 am
peace is unamuricun
November 29th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Sue: You’re welcome and, yes, Christmas is supposed to be reflective on the teachings of Christ and stuff.
IKICSI: Wooo-hooo! Ya shore ded sez ya muthful dar!
November 29th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Andy: Believe it or not, that was a very fascinating quick look into the housing market in England. It’s always cool to hear how things work outside you’re own residence. And not the gossip kind.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
At least its only one asshole in this story instead of the entire HOA. Although I think HOA boards are full of adults who used to be hall monitors back in elementary school. It’s hard to find property now that doesn’t have an HOA, which is why I’m going to rent as long as possible.
Except right now I rent a condo and still have to abide by HOA rules. Fortunately these aren’t very stringent, but I REAAAAALLY have an urge to put up bad Christmas lights in every window just to piss somebody off.
I guess my problem with HOA boards is a problem with American mentality in general. Are we really so self absorbed as a culture that we chose to make such trivial things a big deal, to the point of being criminal? There are so many problems in this world that need attention, and yet we chose to focus our energy on this shit? Bah!
November 30th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Wow.
*shuts pie-hole*
November 30th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Fantastic post and writing. You rule the school!
November 30th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Leslie: Just put up the lights. They’re charge Chris for the fine.
Shmeder: Wow… thanks.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:55 am
but I like the Chris…
(in the tiny squirrel voice from Over the Hedge) You’ll get it.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
[...] writes what for me is the very best post of his I’ve read to date, all about a Christmas wreath in the shape of the CND symbol. How incredible is it that anyone could see such an item as a danger and take offence at it? And [...]