I'm not a big fan of token gestures that conspire to obscure our attention from all the entrenched inequities -- the over-feeding of homeless people on Thanksgiving, for example, or TV-network-funded home makeovers.
I try to train my students to see through this kind of feel-good fraud and recognize the difference between slick charity and exquisite justice. So when I was approached one December afternoon, by two aids from a daycare next to my high school and asked to be their Santa Claus, I nearly uttered the words "opiate of the masses."
But the desperation on their faces halted me. They said they had a room full of anxious children and that their scheduled St. Nick, someone's brother-in-law, was a no-show.
I'm not even sure I actually agreed to do it -- or whether I just didn't refuse quickly enough -- but I found myself, moments later in a men's room toilet stall climbing into their Santa suit wondering what in the world I was going to say to these inner-city children who needed so much -- who needed in-tact families and better nutrition and an end to the crack epidemic and the gang violence ravaging their neighborhood and the social alienation that not long before had led to three days of civil unrest. They needed economic opportunity in their community, better schools and stronger political leadership.
Outside the daycare bungalow, the aids introduced me to their director, a man in a dashiki, from whom I thought I might receive a word or two of encouragement or advice. He looked me over and said, "You're not Santa Claus. Santa Claus is black." Then he half smiled, gave an affectionate yank on my beard, and went into an office. One of the aids took me by the elbow and guided me inside the daycare center where I was greeted by the collective scream of small voices: "It's Santa Claus!" "Hi, Santa!" "I love you, Santa!"
The children were all around me pulling at my belt and grabbing the back of my suit. Their tiny faces burned with expectation and runny noses. Daycare aids encircled me and pushed the children back. Any myth-bursting aspiration I might ever have had evaporated and I realized suddenly that I would have to somehow produce a Santa Claus voice. If I could get myself to speak at all.
But I hardly had to say anything. Order was restored and I was installed in the room's only adult-sized chair. The children were lined up and one-by-one they climbed on my knee. A few of them asked for things so simple, so basic, that I had to hold back tears -- "I want a doll." "I want a toy." "My daddy coming for Christmas?" -- but mostly they just wanted to look at my face, and yank on the fake beard and hear me repeat their names back to them. They wanted to be seen. They wanted, for a moment, to know that someone really important really cared about them.
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he fought back tears knowing that he could not give them what they wanted (and NEEDED) most
Children teach us as much as we teach them. One thing about the fantasy of Santa Claus -- through him, children teach us about reality.
I love some of the ideas that come out of stories to these, such as the one about giving to babies through hospitals, taken one step further with the concept of a "baby shower" that benefits those in the newborn unit. Then there's the person with an idea to transform inner-city schools into learning centers via computers. Do we dare not try new ideas where old ones are known to have failed us?
There are so many innovative ideas that come through these pages, I have hope for us coming up with better economic and business models than "go buy stuff, any stuff." Or even "go make stuff to sell stuff to people who buy stuff." I think the key to sustainability is problem-solving, then selling those solutions...even better, exporting them.
We are not without out challenges, but we really are blessed with a lot of caring people and creative thinkers. Let's continue to harness that power, commit to doing a better job.
Thank you for the post. It can be one more motivation to others to get involved and not accept poverty as, well, acceptable.
I was an elementary school principal for 17 years, and I constantly reminded teachers of the tremendous power - and concomitant responsibility - they have in working with their students. Literally everything a teacher (or principal) does - or fails to do - in or around the classroom impacts the youngsters in their care. Kids want self-validation, caring, and support, and my experience demonstrates that the teachers who provide this kind of nurturing environment for their students almost always have greater academic success with their students, as well.
The basic school curriculum, from third grade on, is provided through interactive computer programs that can be accessed at school or with any PC. These programs are designed to be fun and challenging like computer games, providing instant feedback and pinpoint remediation. Students log in on their own schedule and go at their own pace.
This approach means schools are no longer institutions of confinement but will instead offer elective hands-on courses and services -- including music, art, science lab, sports, and also counseling, health services and nutrition. The key is removing the compulsory, prison-like structure. Kids will go because they want to, not because they have to. And the inner city schools will become sanctuaries that point the way to a better life.
Your story is beautiful and heart warming. There are many things people do that they don't think mean much but they mean so much to the receiver. I am thankful for you that you did get to be Santa. His legend has a reason and that reason is hope.
I discovered that for myself last year. Simple things mean alot.
So my personal Ebenezer Scrooge took a sabbatical. The smile on a child's face is worth more than most gold bars.
God bless you and have a Merry Christmas. Thank you for sharing a wonderful story.
I never thought a child would get a kick out of a simple Christmas ornament but they all seem to love them. When I started I was just making a garland and the kids ask if they could have one of the pretty painted cones. I of course said yes and then even the teenagers asked if they could help make them for themselves and others.
It started a holiday tradition here a last year and I had a lot more "help" this year.
It turns out the simplest things can bring a smile to a child's face and that is always beautiful.
Merry Christmas Mr. Grinch! (Smile!)
Isn't that all any of us really wants? Your story was beautiful.
#525
We are not helpless.
Notice there is no mention of any child asking for more trickle down economics or free market self regulation.
This poverty is not inevitable, we create it.
I can't imagine any of those children are "making themselves helpless."
how can we make things bearable for ones who bear the burden and meaningful for the ones who don't??
Sometimes extravagance brings out the melancholy in me, which makes me ask questions like...... why doesn't it bother the people who make millions every year or the owners of businesses who have not increased wages proportional to the cost of living? Why don't workers strike for a wage that allows living in America like they do in other countries? Does anyone else look around our nation and wonder things like this?