"Santa" means goodwill toward everyone

Parents who introduce their young children to "mysteries of faith" like the gift-giving Santa may eventually face challenges like, "My classmates teased me that Santa is not real: What’s the-objective-truth?"

One of my children asked, and I answered, "The person, Santa, is made-up, but the idea is true."

I continued, to protect my child from further concern or debate and assure our integrity, not expecting the follow-up questions, below.

I explained, "Santa is a personification--a myth to represent an idea. Santa represents the idea of responsible goodwill toward other people.

Most people naturally want to practice goodwill always but are imperfect and sometimes act unkindly. Some people don't want goodwill for reasons they may or may not understand. Most cultures have a traditional event to recall, renew, and encourage fidelity to goodwill throughout the community. In majority-Christian communities, that time of the year is Christmastime, during which some people celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. In the story, three wise men carried gifts to the baby Jesus.

In Christian tradition, the patron saint of children is St. Nicholas. Some Christians, for givers’ anonymity, named St. Nicholas the gift giver, and the name evolved to ‘Santa.’

Santa is accepted beyond the Christian community, especially by stores, to promote sales. Thus, the tradition of gift-giving extends to adults as well."

My 8-year-old daughter responded, "So the gifts marked 'from Santa' are really from you and Mom like my classmates said? Mom put cookies out and you ate them?"

I answered, "Yes."

She softly said, "Thank you, Dad," and went to thank her mom for another wonderful yearly effort.

There was no "humbug" in my candid response. Gifts from our daughter have always been thoughtful and novel. Nearly 35 years have passed and at some point during Christmas eve dinners she happily shouts "Let's hurry! I want to see what Santa brought."

Santa means good will toward everyone if there are no objections.

12/21/1999, rev 11/29/2007, 12/24/2016, 12/21/17, 12/24/18

Note: The above message was a letter to the editor, published by The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA on 12/21/1999 under the editorship of the late William Bankston. It was an alternative, without complaint, to the standard publication such as "Our Views," December 24, 2016, titled "Yes, Virginia: Santa is real."

The Advocate claims their reprint from 1897 is done "as a public service." In 2016, I object to Francis P. Chruch's influence on children in statements like "[without Santa,] There would be no childish faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence." The human existence offers complete joy.

I assert that appreciation for the-objective-truth and for the people who collaborate for statutory justice creates  the beauty that motivates humankind in the deliberate march toward civic peace. "Civic" refers to public connections in goodwill and mutual justice.

Last year, I could not find the editorial online. However, I noticed media-propaganda I have not seen before: " . . . our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The [New York] Sun." I think everything was the same perhaps last year; but January 21? See theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/our_views/article_2fcaaf01-a556-58a3-bff4-f71eca24e480.html . The press is free, but it ought to also be responsible.