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The Transition From Person To Spirit Greetings from Santa's Friend! One day I asked Santa Claus what he thought about Dr. Spock, the eminent Pediatrician. This is what Santa had to say about him and his views: -------------------------------0---------------------------- Dr. Spock once said you should never let a child believe in me - because ultimately you will have to admit that you lied. Dr. Spock was respected as a pediatrician. In this instance, however, I don’t think the good Doctor went far enough in his thinking Look at it this way. When a child asks, "What makes a car go?" you do not begin by explaining the intricacies of an internal combustion engine. A child won’t understand. Instead you say, "Turn the key and step on the gas." Later on, when the child is capable of understanding, you can go into the finer points. So what do you say when a child asks, "Is there a Santa Claus?" The truthful answer is a simple "Yes." I do exist! I am an immortal spirit that lives in the hearts of men. Of course, as a spirit, I am without substance. You can’t touch me. But that is unimportant. What is important is that I can touch you and through you I can touch others. To say that I do not exist is simply not true. On the other hand you know that the child thinks of me as a person. To them I am like a little known kindly uncle who occasionally showers them with gifts. As a result you are reluctant to say, "Yes there is a Santa Claus." You don’t want to mislead them. There is no question about it. To tell them I am a person would be wrong but to say I do not exist as a spirit would be every bit as wrong. The solution to this dilemma is rooted in one simple fact. On December 6, 343, the date of my birth into sainthood, I ceased being a person and became an immortal spirit. As a spirit, I no longer functioned like a person. Instead, others who believed as I did used my name and acting on my behalf. As a person I had been singular in that my acts of generosity were unusual. As a spirit I was singular in that I was plural. I had become more than one. But just as the workings of an internal combustion engine are beyond a child’s ability to comprehend so, too, is the idea of an immortal spirit like me. It is fruitless to try to explain such an adult concept to children. It’s beyond their ken. You’ll only confuse them. So let them believe as children. Let them think of me as a person. Then, as they grow, guide them into an understanding and acceptance of me as a spirit. It is part of growing up. How and when this transition is accomplished is crucially important and in most cases it will be sooner than you think. All too soon they will be older and you will have the opportunity to answer the three remaining questions out of the four that every child will ask if given half a chance. The four questions are: Is there a Santa Claus? Is there more than one Santa Claus? Are you a Santa Claus? May I be a Santa Claus? In each instance the answer is "yes." All you have to do is follow two simple rules: Give or do simply because you love, And secondarily hide your identity by using my name so you can’t be repaid. ------------------------0------------------ With that Santa was off again. Until next month, Santa’s Friend Glenn
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