Thursday - December 25, 2003
No, Virginia, There is No Santa Claus
My niece and nephew (4 and 6) don't believe in
Santa Claus because their parents have decided that deceiving children has no
value.
I can't speak for my brother and
his bride, but here are the reasons I think their Santa Claus policy is wise.
Or is it?
I remember as a child, as most children do, that
I always wondered how the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus could be everywhere in
one day. Even at a very young age and not really understanding how big the
Earth is, I knew that it was impossible for a human to go to everyone's house in
a few hours. But I was taught that he was real by my parents and everyone else
I knew so he had to be real.
I had
some difficulty understanding how Santa fit in with all the things I had learned
about Jesus and god, so my mind struggled like everyone else's did to discover
how he could be real and I concluded that magic was
involved.
During the time when a child
is conceptualizing the world, that is when he is transforming his percepts into
concepts, our culture teaches him to ignore obvious and verifiable evidence and
instead believe blindly in what cannot be true. Children don't know how Santa
can be possible, but they are taught that he is real despite the evidence.
Being young and not having fully developed minds or even narrow life
experiences, they believe what they are taught by those whom they
trust.
So my only question I would like
to pose now is, once a child learns that Santa isn't real, does he then conclude
that all is right with the world and the conflict of a Christian god and Santa
Claus is resolved, strengthening his belief in magic? Or does he learn to
unlearn what he has learned and reject magical gods as being another story he
was told?
No matter. They will
believe what they believe because of their own minds and neither I had I wanted
to nor even their parents will decide for them. Hopefully the conclusion they
reach will be the best one.
In the
meantime, if anyone out there is reading this drivel, I wish you a merry
Christmas, the second greatest American holiday we have, after Independence Day.
It the most sacred celebration of our prosperity that we have. Three cheers for
materialism, consumerism, and sharing our wealth with our loved ones. These are
the best things in life.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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