The fierce urgency of Santa.

[Are_grits_groceries]

Being a Santa is probably always a difficult job in some ways. These days I think it must be a very, very hard one. Kids aren't asking for just toys. Many of them are asking for food, jobs for their parents, or for help to keep a roof over their heads. They are also reminders of what their parents are going through. I'm sure they are trying to shield their children, but kids know what is going on.

When children bring their wishes to Santa, they aren't just asking for material things. Those sentences whether uttered or written are their pleas for hope. They are wishing that Santa just doesn't have toys in his sleigh. They hope he can deliver on bigger requests.

This shouldn't be what a Santa is for. A Santa shouldn't be the place a child has to go to hope to get a meal or a bed. A Santa should be a place to go for whimsy and fun. Oh, there will always be those who ask for such things that are serious and critical. However, we have reached a scary point in the number of children who ask for these items.

This country is bringing up a generation or generations of kids who are going to have no hope or have already lost it. We bring up far too many of them anyway. However, the 'hollow-eyed kids' threaten to overwhelm the future. We cannot sustain a nation whose kids have no hope, no dreams and ultimately no humanity. Why does anybody wonder that a lot of kids do poorly in school or get into trouble with the law? I can show you where it starts if you can't see it for yourself. The tide of such misery is breaking on all our shores and too large to hide.

This is what drives me wild about those sanctimonious jackasses who spend their time praying for the defeat of a healthcare bill; or those who spend their money defeating gay marriage as if the pillars of society will fold if it happens; or those who preach that if someone can't help themselves then they deserve it; and then those who make millions of dollars and try to justify it. I loathe and despise them to the depths of my being. I try not to think of them except to work against them. If I get too caught up in my feelings, my hair catches on fire and I am drawn from better uses of my time. I rely on the Karma Train to find them.....and it will.

This brings me back to Santa. I'm sure a lot of kids have been taught to pray and they do. They ask God or whoever to help. For those that believe in Santa, however, he is their own little, last bastion of hope. He is there for kids, and their own personal friend who will listen. They count on him, and I will bet that a lot of kids who know better ask him for something too. They may not sit in his lap, but they whisper it anyway as a last resort.

I don't sleep well anymore. I am always up by 3am for some reason. It's that hour made famous in the 2008 campaign. I hear the emergency phones ringing with urgency, but too few are picking up. The calls are being ignored by those who should help and can help. They ring in my dreams. I answer very little.

One Santa was asked by a young child for glasses. She wanted them so she could see the board in class. Her mother overheard her and broke into tears. Santa was overwhelmed at that moment, but he managed to catch the eye of one of his elves. He managed to get word to the Mother about the Lions Club and the work they do for people with eye problems. I don't know how he could keep going.

Is that where we are as a nation? Santa is our last, best hope on Earth for our children? That is as telling as anything written or uttered anywhere.

[havocmom]

1. It seems likely our beloved nation is headed toward a Dickinson-ian nightmare

Was pondering those 'snuggy' garment ads showing people in blankets with sleeves at ball games and other places beyond the privacy of their own couches. Thought about those ads and the fact that few people in America can make clothes anymore. To my musing, I added the crumbling economy and bleak future for workers/middle class as they slide into the broadening hole trapping the working poor and unemployed.

Those blankets with sleeves being advertised as garments, socially acceptable for wearing in public, remind me a lot of the simple, rough, home-spun tunics and cloaks of dark ages serfs. A bit softer and more colorful, for sure, but just as basic and rudimentary.

I feel for Santa and the gut-wrenching, desperate pleas the ol elf hears from children these days. I fear for the dark economic future the kids have looming over them. We seem well on the way to a two tiered civilization, and it does not bode well for the youngsters who can't get basic needs met today.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. 'A chicken in every pot."

or a 'Snuggie in every house.' (plus a ShamWow)

[havocmom]

4. You had chicken last month, peasant! Eat your paste and be grateful for it...

Yeah, Dark Ages: Part II coming up. Poverty, despair, disease (and not much medical care), war, and all powerful religion making the laws as they act on whims instead of reason.

Oh, I am glad to be old!

[Frosty1]

2. Well done!

Beautifully written. Thank You