My friend Aaron sent me his thoughts on Santa Claus. I think it is in response to something I posted about
my father and Santa Claus. I guess it is all about how far you take Santa Claus. If you play it up too much it could be cruel.
Now that it is "post holiday", specifically Christmas, I have something that has bothered me for a while. It has to do with capitalism, but more about what's right and wrong with Christmas. I feel that the whole gift giving phenomenon is all cute and nice, and it does give you a good feeling to give somebody a gift. But this day is about Jesus' birth. I am sick of the whole mass media marketing machine shoving Christmas down our throats like it's mandatory to get people gifts. For me, It all started with Santa Clause. I really did believe in Santa Clause. I remember my cousins telling me that I just missed Santa darting across the sky with his reindeer and sleigh. It was at my grand mom's house, and they were the first ones out the door, so they tricked me into believing that he flew over head and I missed it all. I have a problem with Santa because parents and teachers and uncles and relatives are always chiding their children for lying. But what do they do? they take advantage of youth and naivety by telling you about some fake man, who may, or may not have ever existed, and they play the old "carrot and stick" with you about being good and getting presents. The whole thing about chimney crawling and leaving milk and cookies, and Rudolph. It's America's biggest lie. Well, besides Iran Contra and "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". All I'm saying I'm saying is "don't tell your children to be honest and never tell a lie, and then lie to them about Santa Clause and not expect them to hold it against you". That's on par with finding out that my mom and dad stole cable television by having my uncle hook up a "hot Box" onto our television when I was a kid. I have to admit that it was nice to try and watch the Playboy Channel (even though it never came in) and to see constant reruns of Cheech and Chong, but it was bad parenting. That's the point of my life when I realized that; A) Santa doesn't exist, he's just a made up lie that's cute and funny and parents get to hold it over your head until you figure out that it's them. B)My parents are stealing cable television, on top of lying about Santa Clause. That's borderline criminal behavior. I am scarred for life.Labels: Aaron, Christmas, Guess Blogger, lie, Santa Claus
