Monday, December 23, 2013

Yes, Christopher, There Still is a Santa Claus



Many years ago, I wrote an article for my son at Christmas time. It was picked up by several newspapers in my city.  It was entitled "Yes, Christopher, There Still is a Santa Claus."

Here it is. Merry Christmas everyone!

The values of Christmas have been handed down by our culture from generation to generation and celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and the values that he stood for. In it’s more modern form, Christmas is represented by Santa Claus. And as you know, Santa is considered the most beloved person of children all over the world. Many children believe in him. You did too. And I hope you still do. But, as you are about to enter your teen years, Christopher, you probably are having your doubts on whether Santa Clause exists.

There will be a time - soon in fact - when your peers will tell you that belief in such things as Santa Claus is 'childish' and not the 'adult' thing to do. But little do these 'realists' know that adults are merely children who owe money.

So you ask me, "Is there a Santa Claus, Dad?"

And I reply, "Yes, Christopher, there still is a Santa Claus and you need him now more than ever before" - it’s just that he's harder to find as you grow older. Santa

Claus does exist - as surely as our hopes, our wishes and our dreams exist. He's the embodiment of the values of family, home and community. Like Christmas Eve itself, he's magic - not because there's magic in the world but because children see the world as magic. He's all that's good, unselfish and generous in the world, and, in his own way, he is Christmas.

When you were young, you received from Santa the explicit gifts of Christmas - toys, candy, and the obligatory sweater. But you also received the implicit gifts of family, home and love. Will you continue to receive Santa's gifts? Yes, you will.

But as you grow older, Christopher, you'll have to work harder to get them. When you were younger, you had to work to be good. As you grow older you'll have to work to create good. When you were younger, he found you. As you grow older you'll have to work to find him.

The times we live in suggest logic, cynicism and distrust are the 'values' of survival these days and that the intangibles of love, faith and hope are fast disappearing from our communal landscape. But you'll find that in the final analysis, those abstract intangibles are the only things worth having. But are they real? Ah, Christopher, there is nothing more real and abiding in this world. Hold strong the intangibles. Ignore the skeptics. These intangibles do serve a practical purpose.

How?

Those who no longer wish, no longer dream. And those who lose their dreams lose their hopes. And those who lose hope are easy to control.  The freedom to live comes directly from the freedom to dream. And now, just as you have begun to internalize the values of your parents, you'll have to internalize the values of Christmas. Your journey of self-discovery has just begun and the wonder, awe and magic of life will always be there if you see and not just look, if you feel and not just touch, if you listen and not just hear.

Yes, Christopher, Santa Claus is harder to find when you grow up. But he does exist.

Where, you ask?

As Tinkerbell said to Peter Pan, you’ll find him in between the time you are asleep and the time you are awake - the time when you can still remember your dreams.

3 comments:

Walter Sieruk said...

An important question: is the Quran the Word of God or is it a fabrication of a man. Thus, is the Quran the truth or a fiction and a hoax? The jihadists use many verses from the Quran as the Main source of justification for their violence, mayhem and murders. There, the question is clearly given on pages 145 through 157 in THE ISLAMIC INVASION by Robert Morey in which he wrote a section on the Quran with its self-contradictions. Just two of the many he cited are the following “The Quran differs on whether a day is a thousand years or fifty thousand years in God’s sight’ and “Who was first to believe? Abraham or Moses [Sura 6:14 versus 7:143]? The above is inconsistent and illogical. Further, Morey wrote about “The fact that Judaism and Christianity broke up into different sects was used in the Quran to prove that they are not of God [Suras 30:20-32. 42:13, 14]. Yet Islam has broken up into many warring sects and therefore cannot be true if the Quran is right.” Moreover, Morey in his book shows many more contradictions and absurdities in the Quran, there are and how Muhammad incorporated extra Biblical and Jewish folklore along with pre-Islamic Arabian myth and parts of Zoroastrian and Hindu stories into the Quran. Furthermore, the Muslims claim that “the Quran is the direct, literal word of God unmodified in any way by the Prophet who uttered them at the bidding of God.” Nevertheless, in the book UNVEILING ISLAM by Ergun Mehmet and Eethi Caner has shown that the Quran was modified in the following account on pages 45. “Muhammad felt the need to improve on the words of Allah, since he changed Allah’s wisdom for his own on several occasions. A hadith tells of the nonchalant emendations of Muhammad:’ On a number of occasions he [a scribe] had, with the Prophet’s consent changed the closing words of verses. For example, when the prophet had said ‘God is mighty and wise ‘ Adbollah b. Abi Sarh suggested writing down ‘Knowing and wise’ and the Prophet answered that there was no objection. Having observed a succession of changes of this type, Adbollah renounced Islam on the grounds that revelations, if from God could not be changed at the prompting of a scribe such as himself. After his apostasy he went to Mecca and joined the Qorayshites.’ Other writers reveal that later Muhammad and his people did go war with the Qorayshites and he personally killed Abdollah. Obviously Abdollah knew too much and Muhammad wanted Abdollah’s knowledge to die with him.” In conclusion, the Quran is not only a fiction, it’s also a hoax.

Always On Watch said...

WC,
What wonderful sentiments! Thank you for posting this.

Always On Watch said...

And those who lose their dreams lose their hopes. And those who lose hope are easy to control.

Prophetic words that apply to today!

When the spirit is broken, tyranny takes over.