Teacher tells 7 year-olds Santa's Fake., page 35

I have pondered over this topic for some time now, reading, rereading everything that was posted about this subject. I then went last night to get a few things from the store. When I was finished with my shopping, I thought to myself, hey, why not just go and check out the local mall, and the other stores around the area. I learned a lot from that trip and from this topic. Now, I don`t get around very well and have to use a cane to walk, but I still went into the stores just to see the people doing their Christmas shopping, and to feel the Christmas spirit in the air.

What I found made me wonder about people. Many of you feel that telling the story of Santa Claus is a lie, and does nothing but tell children it`s ok to lie, and makes kids angry at their parents after they learn the truth about Santa. It also made me think back over the last few years about what I`ve seen happening in the world. I come to believe you are seeing your wish come true about taking Santa out of the picture.

The stores I went in I only saw a very very few things about Santa. I didn`t see anyone dressed up as Santa any place I went. The only thing I did see was a very few Santa dolls and figurines. I asked if they were having Santa in our down town square this year, and the answer is no, they could not afford it with the budget cuts.

Almost everyone I saw in the stores were on edge, hardly a smile to be seen everywhere I looked. It was as though people were turned off to the holiday, and it was more of a chore to shop then anything. It made me wonder, if Santa was the cause of people going out this time of year and over spending, why was I not seeing him like I use to years ago?

Fewer and fewer people are telling the story of Santa anymore, and are being taught at an earlier age he doesn`t exist. But, people still go out and over spend on gifts, even with Santa not in the picture. I see the holiday spirit less and less in people each year as I grow older, soon, it will be gone for good. One of the most enjoyable times I can ever remember as a child, was when my parents use to take the two of us youngest boys and go window shopping down town. To this day I can remember walking down the sidewalk, and the snow was coming down ever so gently as we would stop and look in the front windows to see what they had setup for the people to look at. They had everything from trains with a winter scene, to whole towns set up with snow, and also Santa at the North Pole.

You see, for me, it was a magic time of year. Yes Santa was magic for me, but so was just being with my family and having that safe loving feeling about it all. Just being there walking in the snow, being with those I love was a part of that magic for me. Smiles, you bet, everywhere you looked there was someone smiling.

Last night, I didn`t see that anywhere. Only people with no expressions, or with frowns on thier faces. What I see, is the Christmas Spirit dieing, a slow death. I see a greed driven world that we live in. Did Santa do this, no, he`s hardly in the picture anymore, but the greed still grows, and it gets worse each year. Kids don`t need Santa to bring them toys anymore, all they have to do is see it on TV and their hooked. Then it`s give me give me give me. Corporations don`t need Santa to sell to the masses anymore, they have TV to do the brain washing for them.

You want to blame Santa for it and call it a lie? That`s fine, and if you want to keep him out of the picture, that`s good also. But if you do, throw away the biggest liers of them all, your TV, and the corporations that use them to sell things to you. We are a generation of users, driven by greed and want. From the corporations, on down to ourselves, we use others to get our way, and the things we want. And Santa was just a small part that was being used. Yes, the story of Santa was real at one point in our history, but like all things in this world we have made, even the story of Santa was soiled by us.

Is he a lie? No, not in my heart he`s not. The real story of Santa will live on forever, even if it`s only in my heart.

[edit on 20-12-2008 by FiatLux]