I saw Santa last week! Same day, may be a few hours off...
We don't have a chimney so I don't know how he got in, but he was there. I was awake. Waiting for him, in fact. My son is 11 and still believes in Santa. He'd left milk and cookies for him near the tree with a letter that stated what he would like this year for Christmas and what one calls a powerful close. "I will always believe in you", he said. I wanted to make sure Santa got the message and my son, what he wanted...
The letter must've been last minute, because what Santa brought for him was way off! "I'm not sure he's going to be happy with that", I said. "Forget the milk and the cookies, I know you get that all the time, but read that letter again, especially the close. You have got to do better than that", I urged...
"Hmm, he thought, "What if I gave him a gift card instead? So you can buy him the game he wants", he said. "That could work", I said, "what gift card are you thinking?", I asked. "Oh! It's either Target or Barnes & Noble, I got to stick to Red or Green, you see. Does that work?", he asked me back. "Target could work", I said, "though I have to check their stock to see if they're still carrying the item"...
"You know what, I'll thrown in an extra Barnes and Noble gift card, just for the trouble", he said. "It's no trouble at all Santa, but I would appreciate the extra card. He did get a Nook for his Birthday recently, so he can really use it to get some e-books. And I'd love for him to read books than play games anyway"...
Santa did have an extra B&N card on him but not one for Target, so we agreed that he would order it at Target.com. I asked him to sit down and have the milk and cookies while he did that, so he plopped himself on the couch, pulled out his mobile device (I don't know what they call those at the North Pole) and started his act...
A couple of minutes in, he asked me for my email address and told me he would have to send it to me and asked me if I could forward it to on the little fellow (something to do with not being able to send stuff electornically to children under 18, he mentioned). I agreed and gave him my email address. Ho! Ho! Ho! "That is probably the longest email address I have ever seen", he laughed, even as he hit "Submit"...
He said it usually took a few minutes for the order to be processed and for me to receive the email and I didn't want to let him go till I was sure that I had it in my inbox, so I asked him to sit and chat a while . I pulled out my iPhone, hit the email icon and gently stroked the screen with my thumb in a pull down motion, which is the equivalent of hitting refresh on a browser. It wasn't there yet, so we started talking...
"So how come you didn't bring ME anything?", I asked. "Hmm! That's a good question. Have you been Good this year?", he asked me back. "I can't say I'm perfect, but I try to be Good", I said. "I work hard, I care for my kin and I don't wilfully hurt anyone. Is that Good enough"?...
"Sure is", he said, "and I'm sure you believe in me too, you wouldn't have stayed up otherwise, would you? Well, let's see here. Maybe you never asked me for anything", he said. It made me think for a minute. "It's true Santa, I said, I really don't ask for much from life. But then, isn't just being Good good enough?", I said, even as I kept repeating the pull down motion with my thumb on my iPhone...
This time I think I made Santa think for a minute. "You certainly seem to have the right questions", he said. "But I think you also answered it yourself. You're Good because you want to be Good, not because you want something, right"? I looked hard at Santa, looked down at my phone again, saw the email from Santa drop into my inbox and then looked back at him. "You're right", I said...
I stayed awake a long time after Santa left that night. I've been thinking about what he said all this while. "Been Good" isn't good enough! Being Good is not a means to anything. Being Good is a choice we make, for ourselves...
The New Year is nigh! So like the merry old song says, "Be Good for Goodness' Sake"...
HAPPY 2013 TO ALL...
We don't have a chimney so I don't know how he got in, but he was there. I was awake. Waiting for him, in fact. My son is 11 and still believes in Santa. He'd left milk and cookies for him near the tree with a letter that stated what he would like this year for Christmas and what one calls a powerful close. "I will always believe in you", he said. I wanted to make sure Santa got the message and my son, what he wanted...
The letter must've been last minute, because what Santa brought for him was way off! "I'm not sure he's going to be happy with that", I said. "Forget the milk and the cookies, I know you get that all the time, but read that letter again, especially the close. You have got to do better than that", I urged...
"Hmm, he thought, "What if I gave him a gift card instead? So you can buy him the game he wants", he said. "That could work", I said, "what gift card are you thinking?", I asked. "Oh! It's either Target or Barnes & Noble, I got to stick to Red or Green, you see. Does that work?", he asked me back. "Target could work", I said, "though I have to check their stock to see if they're still carrying the item"...
"You know what, I'll thrown in an extra Barnes and Noble gift card, just for the trouble", he said. "It's no trouble at all Santa, but I would appreciate the extra card. He did get a Nook for his Birthday recently, so he can really use it to get some e-books. And I'd love for him to read books than play games anyway"...
Santa did have an extra B&N card on him but not one for Target, so we agreed that he would order it at Target.com. I asked him to sit down and have the milk and cookies while he did that, so he plopped himself on the couch, pulled out his mobile device (I don't know what they call those at the North Pole) and started his act...
A couple of minutes in, he asked me for my email address and told me he would have to send it to me and asked me if I could forward it to on the little fellow (something to do with not being able to send stuff electornically to children under 18, he mentioned). I agreed and gave him my email address. Ho! Ho! Ho! "That is probably the longest email address I have ever seen", he laughed, even as he hit "Submit"...
He said it usually took a few minutes for the order to be processed and for me to receive the email and I didn't want to let him go till I was sure that I had it in my inbox, so I asked him to sit and chat a while . I pulled out my iPhone, hit the email icon and gently stroked the screen with my thumb in a pull down motion, which is the equivalent of hitting refresh on a browser. It wasn't there yet, so we started talking...
"So how come you didn't bring ME anything?", I asked. "Hmm! That's a good question. Have you been Good this year?", he asked me back. "I can't say I'm perfect, but I try to be Good", I said. "I work hard, I care for my kin and I don't wilfully hurt anyone. Is that Good enough"?...
"Sure is", he said, "and I'm sure you believe in me too, you wouldn't have stayed up otherwise, would you? Well, let's see here. Maybe you never asked me for anything", he said. It made me think for a minute. "It's true Santa, I said, I really don't ask for much from life. But then, isn't just being Good good enough?", I said, even as I kept repeating the pull down motion with my thumb on my iPhone...
This time I think I made Santa think for a minute. "You certainly seem to have the right questions", he said. "But I think you also answered it yourself. You're Good because you want to be Good, not because you want something, right"? I looked hard at Santa, looked down at my phone again, saw the email from Santa drop into my inbox and then looked back at him. "You're right", I said...
I stayed awake a long time after Santa left that night. I've been thinking about what he said all this while. "Been Good" isn't good enough! Being Good is not a means to anything. Being Good is a choice we make, for ourselves...
The New Year is nigh! So like the merry old song says, "Be Good for Goodness' Sake"...
HAPPY 2013 TO ALL...
2 comments:
"Good, for the sake of being good.". Sounds like Plato - Goodness as a means and an end. Or is it Mill? - sacrifice ain't sacrifice 'coz it's the choice of one pleasure over another. Whatever be the analogy, you, Sir, earned my respect being one of the two men I know in this world who believe in virtue and ideals, not as a means to an end but as the end itself. A happy new year to the missus, the little elf, and you.
Thank you for the kind words Sujatha. Wish you and Sanidh a great 2013 too...
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