“Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realized joy could be.” – FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.
********
Why, when we were kids – playful as we are – we took to Santa Claus as if he were the reason for the season, didn’t we?
Riding a reindeer-driven sleigh led by the red-nosed Rudolph in the icy winter, the fat bearded hombre clad in red brought bagfuls of gifts meant for every kid who was obedient, respectful and prayed to Santa.
SC’s message was not about Jesus but about being a good kid who is rewarded with toys and other items that make him happy for the season.
I did not realize that this is a deception until I began reading the Bible.
Now I have seen why many families who call themselves Christians are so enamored with the approaching Chisitmas because their children are looking forward to receiving the gifts they have prayed for to arrive, loaded into socks hung on their much adorned traditional Christmas tree.
Credit the fat jolly fellow for he has, to a degree, succeeded in taking away the focus on the Lord Jesus because the enemy was able to convert the Christmas season into a materially rewarding period of time that is not about Jesus’ birth and his purpose for the world as embodied in John 3:16.
Oh, pardon me but I am not pontificating.
I am only voicing out what for a long time has been inside my Christian heart because I too, am a parent like many of you out there.
We celebrate the Lord Jesus’ birth on Christmas day through a spiritual outlook instead of the earthly understanding that most have taken it to be.
In the early fifties – as the nation was just coming out of the ruins of the Second World War – I recall how kids my age sang with gusto bouncy ditties about Santa Claus like “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus is coming to town.”
We learned to memorize the lyrics by listening to the radio and repeating the words that the singer was singing.
Many of us then knew how to verbalize Jesus’ name but that was all.
We picked up the notion that Jesus did not bring gifts to kids but Santa did so the latter’s fat bellied image captured our childish innocence.
Santa was more in our lips than Jesus was in our hearts.
I hope I am not touching some sensitive chords that may arouse ill feelings.
It is about time that teachers in the basic education classes straighten out the record so that school learners in their formative age are already taught the real score about who the Lord Jesus is and why Santa Claus is just a mythical figure.
It is the right thing to do and this is moral.
The truth may sadden the kids’ memory of Santa but it will greatly enrich their knowledge of who the Lord Jesus is.
The continuing unabated commercialization of the season and the inflationary costs have pushed to the edge those who have nothing at all. Those who cannot afford to buy gifts and toys for their children are left to become expectant for their sons’ and daughters’ godparents to shower them with Christmas items.
Therefore, a new consciousness should ideally arise.
In the basic education levels, perhaps a different approach and method should be introduced to rectify what has been, for ages, the incorrect way of celebrating the Christmas season.
Children are impressionable.
What their elders do, they copy and mimic.
Regardless if their actions are morally right or wrong.
New Christmas songs that are inherently Pinoy in essence and substance should instead permeate the airwaves.
Western Christmas songs mention the snowman and the icy winter which we in the tropics do not have. Isn’t this ironic for Pinoy kids to be animatedly singing carols that allude not to their own realm but those in another hemisphere?
The better thing to do is to get rid of Santa Claus’ images and figurines, out of malls and other printed materials so that children will get to know the real message of Christ’s birth.
I DECLARE AGAIN: SANTA CLAUS IS A MYTH.
JESUS IS THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON! (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
