Wake up, Santa!

“WHAaat!!?” Santa nearly choked on his oatmeal at breakfast when he read a letter from his Helper-In-Chief.


“Listen, Missus. The helpers are inviting me to co-determination negotiations. This... This is mutiny!” He kept on reading, groping and pulling his awesome beard. “The helpers say we’re out of date here at Santa’s Village. They also say that gifts are not being delivered equally or chosen wisely. That is a first, I must say,” he muttered. “Now, now. Calm down, Munchkin,” said Mrs. Santa Claus. “Those little helpers may be silly but they’re no fools. I’m sure they have a good reason to want to negotiate. Now eat your oatmeal, old man. Then you can go and talk with them – and you better make it nice and easy with that blood pressure! of yours” she noted.


“Silence! SILENCE!” hollered the Helper-In-Chief in the Big Room and banged the table with a log of wood he had snatched from near the fireplace. They had not found the gavel no matter how hard they had tried. This was the most official meeting in Santa’s Village for at least... say, 300 years. “The meeting has now been opened. We shall focus to negotiate the following issues that helpers have observed while traveling around the world to greet families with children:


1) In prosperous countries, everyone in the family, including children, have too much stuff. They keep buying more and more from gigantic retail stores like ToysRUs. The multitude of presents given at Christmas is often only a fraction of the flow of goods that children – and adults, even more so – receive throughout the year. Yet nobody seems satisfied or grateful.


2) In poorer countries, goods – and I am sorry to say food and clean water – are scarce. Our distribution lists to these countries haven’t been updated for decades, centuries even. And there are countries where Santa has never visited at all! Yet these are the countries where people really need material help.”

These words by the Helper-In-Chief brought silence to the Big Room. Santa Claus rose to his feet. He had thought about the invitation and the speech given by his trusted helper. “You have reason. Does anyone have an idea what we could do? Discussion is open.” Suddenly the Big Room was full of hustle and bustle. Santa’s helpers are not the quietest lot in the world… except when they’re checking your naughty-or-nice rating. This polyphonic ballyhoo went on and on. The helpers got so excited that they climbed on top of each other, waving their hands and feet in the air. An age-old grandfather clock nearly got knocked down, and Mrs. Santa’s cat felt forced to leave the room in a hurry.


“Who wants ice cream?” somebody shouted by the door. Mrs. Santa had arrived with a huge pot of ice cream in her arms. She had heard the Helper-In-Chief’s speech and Santa’s question and the havoc that followed. “Let’s all have a good portion of the cold stuff to cool down a bit. After that you shall be split into two work groups. The first group is to think what kind of presents the people of the prosperous countries shall receive from now on, and the other group is to decide what people in poorer countries need. You will then return to the Big Room and decide together what all this means for the operations of Santa’s Village.” Thus advised Mrs. Santa Claus. “Anyone for seconds?” she added. Big mistake. Hands and feet were back in the air as all helpers wanted to ensure their fair portion of the delicacy.


“OK, let’s hear the results of each work group,” said the Helper-In-Chief when all the little helpers were back in line after their tumultuous group work sessions. “Group 1, the floor is yours.” The helper who stood up was well known to all. He was responsible for the woodwork shop at Santa’s Village. He adjusted his long-tail hat to see properly, cleared his throat, got up on his toes to appear taller, and declared with clarity: “In our opinion, the number of material presents should be reduced in prosperous countries. What these countries need is communality, caring, altruism, and gratitude. People in these countries have lost their values and ideas and keep blaming each other and the society for their problems. Christmas should be a source of genuine joy for them, not a mess that fills their cupboards and cabinets.”


“Wonderful. And now the results of group number 2,” the Helper-In-Chief proclaimed over applause, stomping of little feet, and cheering. One helper by the fireplace stood up. “Our group suggests that material gifts are extended to countries and homes where Santa Claus has never before visited. Many homes indeed lack clothing, toys, as well as any domestic aid,” he said to explain the result of the second group. Can you guess what the little helpers did after this? Well, they made some noise, of course.


“Well done, work groups!” said Santa Claus, standing up to speak to his helpers. “Thank you all. After hearing your thoughts it is clear to me that we need to make some changes here in the village. But how are we to succeed in our objectives?” After a rather long silence, a tiny little blonde-braided helper girl – perhaps the smallest one in the room – stood up. “We need to create a network with the adults of the prosperous countries,” she said bravely and breezily. “We must make them stop and think things over. After all, we cannot create or change people’s feelings here in the village – there is no way to manufacture feelings. We must learn to influence people, their dreams and fantasies. People themselves must change their way of thinking,” said the girl, thinking out loud. “For the people of the poorer countries, we must provide education, health, conflict management, and peace. Abilities to take their faith in their own hands. And all of our material presents should be delivered to these countries. We must also try and increase year-round help from prosperous countries to poorer countries,” she added.


Well said, hailed everybody in the Big Room. It was Santa’s turn to say a few words. “Thank you for an excellent summary. This has been an important wake-up call to me. We shall not abandon material gifts altogether but direct them to where they are truly needed. We must transform ourselves from package suppliers to messengers of good tidings; messengers of faith, hope and peace. We must learn to influence people around the year, and secretly. It shall be our purpose to help them do good deeds and find and build each other’s happiness. They must learn to give, not demand; trust, not to doubt; and support, not to contemn or envy. And to repeat this over and over again. Even if others around them should not do the same. All of us here at Santa’s Village can become symbols of world peace and selflessness regardless of our religions. We’ll have plenty of change management to do with ourselves and others for the next 300 years.”


This is the end of the fairy tale, but you must have guessed that the noise made by the little helpers just got louder after Santa’s speech, and it may never have ceased. Perhaps the reforms in Santa’s Village already affect how we all celebrate Christmas this year. Wishing You and those close to You a Very Merry Christmas in 2015.