Melville Cooke On the first day of Christmas Santa Fraud sent for me; A Glock, a Uzi and a rusty M3 - Junior Reid, Rapapampam
IDEALLY THIS column would have been published on December 25, but there was no publication. However, seeing that the Roman Catholic Church changed the Christ's birthdate from January 6 to December 25 in the first place, and January 7 is actually celebrated as Christmas Day in Ethiopia, today is as good a day as any.
If the Catholics can move the birthdate of their saviour, manger, star, wise men and all, at their whim and fancy, sure as heck a Christmas Day column in January will not disturb the lords of accuracy.
My issue is not with the birthdate of Christ, however, but the fictional creature who gets lots more media time and attention during the Christmas season. He is fat, he is fair, he is furry, he is fictional and he is Santa Claus.
Of course, his laugh, sleigh, Rudolph and other reindeer and all, Santa Claus is not real, as I told my three-year-old daughter. Not that it mattered much, I believe, as after she had processed this stunning bit of information the media promptly reinstated the lie.
I do not believe in lying to children that Santa Claus is real and will sneak into the house at some time on December 24 and drop off some presents if you have been good. Of course, there are those who will dismiss the view and say let children be children, it is just a harmless bit of fun. Maintain their innocence for a bit longer, they will grow up soon enough into this harsh, cruel world.
DAMAGING TRUST
I think lying to your children and hence damaging their trust in their parents or other authority figures is a far worse thing than shattering their commercial-driven media delusions. For make no mistake, if Jesus came to save the world Santa came to sell it.
It is not only a matter of telling your children the truth; it is also a case of externalising discipline. If Santa Claus is a man who comes around every year-end and distributes presents to those who have been good and none to those who have been bad, then what use are the parents or whoever is growing up the child? The ultimate disciplinary threat of withholding goodies at the goodie time of the year cannot be left up to someone who does not exist.
And then there is a child connecting hard work and being able to provide for the family. After the parent or guardian has worked for an entire year and is able to squeeze out that extra dollar to buy a present for a child, it is attributed to a myth? C'mon!
The lie of Santa Claus is wrong on so many levels. How many homes in Jamaica or anywhere, for that matter have chimneys for him to squeeze down? How does Santa Claus in a set of winter clothes ride around in a sleigh in a tropical country which has lots of potholes, but no snow?
A furry, fuzzy, fictional white man has nothing to do with the happiness of Black children. Or White ones, or any other skin colour.
With Santa Claus, we also have externalisation of our problems, hence we can have a song line like "Santa Claus, will you ever come to the ghetto?" The answer is, of course, no - there is no Santa to come in the first place. However, the concept is hanging around that there is someone who will come and make everything right, give something for nothing without us helping ourselves. It is a lot like how many Christians view Jesus, actually.
I say let the children know what is what from early, instead of letting them fall into the snare of the nicest marketing tool ever created, Santa Claus. And, if they happen to be up late on Christmas Eve and see a man in a red suit sneaking around, don't surprise him. Call Daddy, who will go for the machete and apply a present or two, because it must be a thief.
Tell the children the truth
Bob Marley and the Wailers, Troddin' on the Winepress
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
