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So what's the big deal? The short answer--today's world has become so hectic, and so politically correct, we've forgotten that children should be treated like children. It wouldn't do us any harm to be more like them, either. So for all you rational adults... I became intrigued with the myth of Santa Claus as a result of putting on the suit. It's that simple, and that profound. Several things happened very quickly to get my attention. The first was the realization why most "Santas" don't actually talk to children--they don't have answers children want! But more than that, I was struck by the sheer openness and lovingness, especially by the smaller children. They believe Santa loves them just as they are, and that Santa cares for each of them personally. It's not what they say; it's how they behave. I have raised several children, and am well acquainted with my grandchildren, but this is something more--it's an openness and trust they reserve for something in which they believe because they want to do so, and they can do it without reservation. Believe me when I say, it's experiential...and it is very moving. When the Christmas season had passed, I sat down and thought about how much I had been affected by these children and their questions. After much pondering and meditation, I wrote, “The Wonderful Gift Of Yule”. I didn’t really understand what I was writing when I did it, nor had I ever written a long poem before, but I have done work in poetry, and I trust my instincts. The result was this unique work; a story for children and adults that entertains, informs, and emphasizes the real meaning of the Christmas season. What the research showed... I did do a lot of research trying to find answers before I wrote this work, and found that many answers didn't exist. However, my explorations revealed a truth I hadn't thought about before--every culture, every religion, every country, past or present, has some type of mid-winter holiday. In the depths of ancient winters, people hoped that spring would come again. Over the years, each culture then superimposed on top of this renewal celebration whatever dogma was a part of their culture at that time. Further, I found that children have always been an important part of this holiday, and were often visited by a benevolent being, bringing them gifts simply out of love and goodness. One example, our Christmas Day of December 25th, was probably set by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, who decreed that date because it was already a day celebrated to honor an older religion's Sun God. It was also the date of the ancient Wiccan holiday of Yule. Histories about that period state Constantine I was politically motivated to replace both of these older religions with Christianity in an effort to expand and unite his empire. Today, we still continue the mid-winter holiday celebration which has existed in most cultures over the centuries. Merry Christmas. Political Correctness Even while writing this work, I was thinking about what to do with it, and in so doing ran smack into another problem--our current climate of “political correctness”. Two years ago, I was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association literature contest in two categories--poetry, and mainstream novels (“The Wonderful Gift Of Yule” was not a submission). Since I had the opportunity at that conference, I used it to pitch “The Wonderful Gift Of Yule” to several New York agents and publishers. Uniformly, they liked the writing, but each told me that “Christmas isn’t in this year, and won’t be for several years to come”. Really! Somehow, no one has told the children. I spend six months growing my beard, and each Christmas I dress up in the Santa suit my wife made for me, she dresses up as Mrs. Claus, and out we go (see the pictures on our home page). Trust me when I tell you, Santa is as popular as ever. Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed children's holiday celebrations being greatly curbed, or entirely shut down, in such places as public schools, and even hospitals. Everyone is so afraid of somehow offending some other individual or group they simply decide to do nothing. In this area, many corporations went so far as to issue directives to employees that "Merry Christmas" was an inappropriate greeting: "Happy Holidays" being the politically correct substitute. This idiocy has got to stop. “Christmas” has become, whether any particular group likes it or not, a universal holiday, and Santa Claus is a universal figure. There are probably deep, psychological reasons for this upon which a group of academics could write three or four doctoral theses, but I think I can sum it up much more succinctly--Santa Claus represents, for children, the archetype of love, a love that simply gives because it wants to do so, without any expectation of return. Santa is unconditional love. Everyone who has ever had a child has experienced this love. It’s the feeling you get when you come home and your three year old holds out his or her hands and runs to you. It’s simple, almost indefinable, and overpowering. And that’s the feeling I get when I’ve got the Santa suit on and I’m with small children. And that’s the feeling the older children want to recapture when they pretend to believe in me for the sake of the smaller children. And that’s the feeling the adults have when they perpetuate the belief. We all want to recapture that feeling, and Santa Claus is the only excuse most of us adults ever get for remembering that simple feeling. In other words, Santa is there because we all need him to be there; he is a physical manifestation of the the unconditional love we all want to have. I believe we are in the process of wrecking that archetype in our zeal to be “politically correct”. But the way to fix the problem is not by trying to eliminate all references to the phenomenon. That way “fixes” the problem only by making everyone more miserable, and it totally ignores reality for children. You can no more eliminate Santa Claus by keeping him out of public institutions than you can eliminate hunger by removing the school lunch period. What we're doing about it What’s necessary is to retell the story to fit the paradigm of the 21st century. “The Wonderful Gift Of Yule” does that. It weaves together the common elements of our mid-winter holiday fables into a good story that makes the point that has almost been lost--Santa Claus is simply the expression of love, and the faith of children is something that should be validated and encouraged. We believe in this work, and what it represents. The world desperately needs some reasons to get together, rather than remain apart. Santa Claus is a universal figure and Christmas is a universal holiday, not just a religious one. If you agree with what we are doing, and want to support it, please tell a friend. Maybe they still believe in Santa, too! Who knows? Maybe if we all hold a bit more of the Christmas spirit in our hearts, peace on earth will actually break out. It could happen. Paul S. Carr III |
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(C) PAUL S. CARR III: 2004 ILLUSTRATIONS BY PATRICIA JOHNSON |
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