I had coffee with Santa Clause
Whilst millions enjoy themselves, or pretend to, others are in dire straits. Whilst billions are spent on often useless gifts the poor and the homeless struggle on. The poverty in this world is not helped by such celebrations even if there is a gift or two for them under the tree.
For years while my children were young I bought the tree, worked like a slave to decorate the house, cook for the multitude (its summer here so that's a feat in itself) and did endless days of shopping for those gifts so everyone would be included and not feel left out.
One day something went ding in my brain and I realized what I was doing and what I could well do without. It was not going to happen again. Then another light bulb went on. How can parents teach their children that some wonky old man is going to turn up in the dead of night and give them presents when the parents do and pay for it all. This is not magic its down right deceitful.
The bits of plastic that make up the toys that we pay handsomely for are done with five minutes past Christmas. Often the grandparents and aunties turned up with Santa bags containing replica gifts that the children could no longer get excited about. The Christmas meal was something we could better enjoy in the dead of winter or at some other occasion and we could buy things for people when we saw something they really could use and gave it to them out of the love in our hearts.
That was the philosophy and it came into force the very next year when I weaned my children from all thoughts of this time of the year. A trip overseas saw me take the two eldest to Europe, highly educational, while the youngest, 7 years old, went off to the ski fields with her daddy for a couple of weeks.
Since then my thoughts have turned to the uselessness of the day for others, as mentioned above. In the last few weeks we have had tragedy after tragedy see young children, in one case 2 infants and their father drowned, either lost through accidents or dying of some miserable disease. How do their parents feel at this time.
With all of that said yesterday morning I went shopping to the local Mall to get a few things for myself. There in front of me was the big red throne like chair and the trappings that announced the presence of the mythical Santa Clause but the seat was empty. I gazed over to my right and there sitting in a seat of the open coffee shop was a man with a real long white beard and bushy white hair. He sat tall and erect and I could not help but stare. Wow, he was the spitting image of the creature on whose knee kids would sit to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.
The shop I was heading for was closed, as I was too early, so I wandered over to get a coffee at the bar. I ordered and paid for it and had to pass this gentlemen to get to a table. Instead of passing him I spoke to him.
"Are you the occupier of that chair?" I asked tentatively.
"Yes, that's me," he said. "I am Santa."
Just then the waiter brought the coffee so he invited me to join him.
We chattered on for about an hour as he told me his history. Airing our views to each other, him for Christmas me against, we found we also had a lot in common.
With him it was the love of the children he could touch in some way and the joy on their faces at meeting him. But he also understood my side of the equation. It bothered him a lot too as he often thought about them as well. But then he reminded me of the commercial side of it because he had to wear the false beard and wig even though his own was better. "The shop that hires me insists that I dress in these things" he said.
The whole issue of Christmas is about commerce and that's the bottom line. Its also about greed and what presents one will receive or how well others will think of you because of what you give them. Is this love, I have often asked myself. What happens if you don't give them presents, will they still love you or you them.
There is no apparent thought given for the ones who cannot walk through a center at that time because of the carols and other reminders they face, or of those who are offended by the religious myths behind it. There is no concern about the ones who are alone and possibly handicapped who cannot partake of any pleasure.
My Santa friend, whose name is Ivan, spoke of the obvious depression many wear on their faces as they pass him by. he spoke too of the greed he sees in both parents and children as they line up to see him. Of course the photographer is there ready to charge $30 a shot for a photo.
We agreed that Christmas is something that represents the weakness in humans rather than the strength. Most require such a time to look forward to and to motivate them and so on. The year revolves around it as do holidays and so on.
Then comes the after math. The bills, the debts, the loneliness as the crowds fade, the relatives take off for another year of silence and the effects take their toll on the waste line and the stress that the work has caused.
Some make the deal so big that their houses are decorated all over with lights and moving images with no regard for the environment. They invite everyone to come to their house to see what they have done and they spend a heap to entertain and feed them.
What a time it would be if all the lights were turned off that now display throughout every city on trees competing with each other to be the tallest and best ever. What a time for the environment if those trees were still growing and had not been cut down. What a time for the environment if, instead of spending so much on a few minutes of pleasure, the money had gone to preserving the forests or cleaning up the oceans of plastic, and so on.
Hello, I had coffee with Santa but he too is all confused about Christmas. He too is miffed by why people get caught up in a few weeks of excitement and spend the rest of the year getting over it. Hello.
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