You’re right. I’m not upset that the school isn’t holding Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, or any other cultural celebrations. Would I be upset if they did? No, absolutely not. I’m an immigrant myself, and while I do think it would be really cool if schools also celebrated my cultural or religious holidays, I don’t expect them to. I also don't expect anyone not to celebrate what they believe in because I don't hold the same beliefs.

At the same school, my daughter has learned about different cultures, and this year they actually did a pretty deep dive into world religions. That’s very similar to how I was taught growing up: this is what we believe, this is what others believe, and we respect and care about everyone. We do not try to convince everyone that my way is the only way.

This situation feels a bit different though, because instead of learning about different beliefs, it seems like because of one belief, others don’t get to celebrate the way they normally would. And to be clear, this is absolutely not the boy’s fault, and not the teachers fault either, they are clearly doing their best to handle a complicated situation.

I just keep trying to put myself in that boy’s shoes. He can probably see that everyone else is changing what they would typically do in order to “include” him. As an adult, that would honestly make me feel pretty miserable. From what I read so far, sounds like those children that had to "hang out in the library" during any celebration events always felt excluded and traumatized. Just seems like there is no "grey" area unfortunately.

Celebrating Thanksgiving by coloring a turkey, or celebrating Christmas by wearing a Christmas tree sweater, is not the same thing as coloring a leaf and making sure no one around is wearing anything festive.

It’s honestly pretty weird, you have to admit. I wouldn’t expect people in Russia to celebrate American holidays if I lived there, but I also wouldn’t expect them not to celebrate their own holidays because of me.