Greetings, Ripplemakers

The votes are coming in for the December writer's contest. So far Don Carroll is leading almost 2 to 1 over his nearest competitor, for his first story "Christmas Samaritan". Remember to vote by giving "Pearls" to your favorite stories. Vote often, but only once for each story.

Bob

The Santa Lie
by
Vance Agee

The Santa "Lie"
One Answer*
A Very Long Essay by Vance Agee

Each year, as we in the Western world all know, millions of people, especially families with young children, celebrate the story of Santa Claus, with variations. In some countries he is still called Saint Nicholas, Patron Saint of Germany and Russia.  As an American folk character, he crosses religious lines, especially in the North American cultural form of Santa.

Each year, younger children are told the North American version of Santa and hear many songs about his bringing of gifts to good children on Christmas Eve. The problem: Each year some parents and guardians agonize over the year when they will tell their children the "truth".  Some of sensitive conscience and highly intellectualized ideals even consider the story of Santa to be the perpetuation of an unethical lie to uneducated innocent children, who now will be harmed because of such adult lies!

Readers, please forgive my tone at this point. I suppose that I should be impressed by the intellect and ethics of these honest, caring persons. I am somewhat impressed, but I disagree with their thinking.  The story of Santa is not an obvious, known "lie" with the intent to deceive children, as about such topics as a divorce, a job loss, a serious illness, etc. The story is a story and belongs to an entirely different realm of thought and reality. 

The story of Santa is, moreover, I believe, especially open to the following explanation. The question of what we know and how we know -- epistemology -- is not simple. I am truly sorry at the weak acceptance by millions of a huge body of supposed truth in our world, some far more dangerous than that of Santa Claus. Truly, every age has its mythology, invented to serve certain needs and ???operationalized??? to work as truth. In keeping this essay shorter and to the point at hand, I will try to summarize many concepts.

First, how do we perceive "truth"?  Through our senses -- no other way?  Thus states the current mythology, the empirical scientific method of research. If so, is what we see and hear and touch and smell "true".  Of course?

Sorry. No. 

Let's take our senses as one example of scientific empirical truth mechanism failure and the electro magnetic spectrum of light and other energy as the perceived truth. The human can detect only a minuscule fraction of the full spectrum!  Most readers already knew that we cannot see ultra violet and infra red light.

Does your current space have room to move around? That is empty space, right?  If we tell children this, it is true?

Wrong. It is "full" of invisible light waves/particles, radio and TV waves, cosmic rays, waves and frequencies (number of wave cycles within a given time), the ???persistence of vision??? @ 16 cycles/second, some of which we can translate with electronics and some of which we cannot, scent particles which only a dog's many times more sensitive nose can detect, and for the spiritual among us, the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Host -- and the list of ???contents???  filling our apparently empty space goes on! 

 Every historical "mythology" worked to an extent for its people. Can we build pyramids? Can we travel instantly through time and space? Will any rocket actually take us to any star? No, because we need more. Yet our system has given us medicine and the technology which we do have. We  respect and learn it for that.

 Let's just theorize for a moment that time is actually a variance in the frequency of the super strings or whatever is the smallest ingredient in what we "operationalize" as reality. If the coordinates of space (three expanded dimensions of height, width and length) remain constant, what  might we sense in our space --  persons from the past or the future (we think they are "ghosts" or premonitions); events past, present and future. After all, for the religious among us, we believe that God said that He is "I AM", and the Bible said that He is the God of the living  (no matter when in history), not of the dead!  Did all history happen as written in our textbooks? I do not think so.

Sorry!

That is just a little more than enough epistemology. Reality and truth and lies are all a little shaky! What, then, is  my suggestion? If Einstein and our super genius scientists cannot really ???prove" the existence of anything,  what is true? (We have heard that asked before by one Pontius Pilate.) Now I offer one standard for a decision. There may be others, but please consider mine.

Descartes said: "Cogito ergo sum"  -- "I think, therefore, I am". How about "credo ergo cogito"? -- I believe, therefore, I think."  I cannot think what I do not believe! I would like to lead you one step further (no more Latin): I have the power to choose to believe, which then gives me a premise to build what I believe into a truth, not an intentional lie. Many others may choose the same premise!  I choose to accept the great I AM as God and Jesus Christ as His son. That impacts ALL else which I believe and thus know.

I also choose to believe that Saint Nicholas is real. I cannot prove it; nothing can be proved. I choose. I then build on this to believe in the goodness of St. Nicholas in the spirit of Santa Claus, His spirit of goodness and giving. I do not lie!

In my small family, my daughter, now 23 and working in a famous Madison Avenue business at the corporate level already (2002 college graduate), has kept the believing child within her alive!  At 23 she chooses to believe in Santa and still leaves a snack and a note for him, which I choose to write in service to his ideal. (This is, perhaps, like an unscripted life drama!) ** No one has lied. We have all chosen to believe, not to deceive!  Our belief is the substance of our real event!

Our year to tell this truth began in 1980 and will never change.

I urge all of you, as all the "Miracle on 34th Street" movies portrayed, not to regard Santa as a lie and trick on your children,  but as a great gift to them in creating a reality of goodness, the power of truly creative imagination, and the continued work of an eternal living and giving Saint of God,

Nicholas, and his spirit among us. How this works is not important.

So, don't lie to your children --

Believe with them! 

(c) Vance G. Agee,
Christmas, 2001, 2002, 2003 rev
VGAgee @ aol.com

Post Script

First, the birth of the God of the Universe into a human form as Jesus of Nazareth is the absolute most important true information of Christmas??¦Of all time.

But the much later love, kindness, giving and goodness of the concept of ???Santa??? is a wonderful, though small, portion of this total gift. The only risk is for those who try to replace the birth of Jesus with other events. I do not do that.

 My essay on Santa can be applied to any examination of "truth". The  Bible states that we can move trees and mountains into the sea, if we  have the tiniest "faith". Faith is both confidence in a faith-giver and  a sports-type imaging of a desired reality, in concert with the great Creator!  Let's start again to apply this kind of faith to our kids, our lives, our country, and to all things. Are certain things, then, "real"?  Yes, they are real, if we choose them to be real and then choose to use them!

Choose, believe, know, and then be!

"I AM" said: "Let there be!", and there is.

Amen

 ** Dear friends!  I am sharing a very private and personal thing here  for you!  I hope that it helps you. Please keep it sacred and do not  attempt to reach or tell my daughter that I have shared it. Thank you.

Vance
 

From the Mailbag

Re:  A Light Hearted Christmas

What an absolutely delightful story. Love it.  Give it 5 pearls and 4 gold rings.  Have a happy and blessed holiday. 

Dianne Chambers
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Re:  How Lovely are Thy Branches

I loved it.  Its a beautiful timeless story.  I give it 4 pearls.  Thank you.  You bless my day every day.  I love the stories. 

Diane Chambers
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Re:  When is She Coming 

This brings back so many special memories of my grandmother, who lived with us.  Although she has been gone many years, I still feel her presence and miss her loving arms.  Thanks for the memories.  This is a 6 pearls story.  Thanks again and Happy Holidays.  God Bless you all. 

Dianne Chambers
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Re: A Childhood Ago

That was a lovely story and took me back to my childhood.  And so well written I could feel it like it was yesterday.
Julia Greer
--- --- ---

Kathy,

as I read your story, I almost envy you to have that kind of memories. If you have read any of my stories on Tapestry and I think one on Starfish, you know my background was entirely different. We didn't even have a Christmas tree until I was in the fifth grade and my teacher gave me the one in my fifth grade room. My parents were both gone by the time I was 11 years old. But I thank God for having them as long as I did. I thank God for the brother who cared enough to take care of me, when I had relatives who could have provided a good home for me. But none offered. My brother was only 24 or 25 at the time and had a life of his own. But he managed to give me food to eat, clothes to wear and a roof over my head. Thank you for your story. It serves the purpose of making me recall the blessings that I had, despite the hardships I had to endure. By the way, Kathy, my maiden name is Campbell.
Thanks again and God bless,
Nell
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Re: Remember the Reason

Bob,

This message is, of course, to Don Carroll, who apparently has thought patterns similar to yours and to mine. I went to his site but found no way to leave a message. Perhaps you can convey my appreciation of his outline and site and share my main essay on Santa. I recently read a horrendous attack on Santa as "Nick" being part of Satan and Santa as a very destructive force against Christmas. Therefore, I will write a very short additional essay about the Christmas season, which should in brevity refute this attack. I will share it with you. You already have, of course, my very long essay. Thanks and God bless! Vance
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Re: Is Santa Real?

I enjoyed Donna's Santa story.  Its fun to believe in things.
Donna B.

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