Seasonal Tidings

The old adage about kids saying the darnedest things is on full display in the back section of this newspaper.

There children have submitted their letters to Santa Claus, providing soft instructions about their hopes for the Christmas ahead.

There are visions of stockings and candy and toys and games.

The latest fads or attractions are on display, from Hannah Montana to Dora the Explorer.

But in those letters there is also the humanity of the season, as only un-jaded children seem able to express.

There is much wondering about how Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as the elves, named by at least one child, are doing.

There is much warmth and thanks for all Santa does, all that his elves accomplish and the presents they spread around the world.

Rudolph, clearly the star of the reindeer troop guiding Santa’s sleigh, is also up for major props, carrots out for him along with the cookies and milk that are a staple of the jolly man in the red suit with the long white beard.

Amidst the requests for presents, the queries after Santa’s well-being, however, there is also a jolt of the times in which we live.

One child writes that in addition to a couple of toys or games, he hopes Santa will bring him or her “a better life.”

Another jots down that they hope that in addition to a few toys, Santa will make them a “better person.”

And the number of children who write, after listing their Christmas wishes, that if Santa can’t bring them their hoped for goodies, well, that is okay.

They will understand.

To read through those pages filled with the thoughts and desires of these children aged two and above serves to wipe the Grinch right out of your heart and soul.

For some.

This is the flip side of the Christmas season, those who for reasons within and beyond their control will find the holiday season the toughest time of the year.

Whether they have sustained the stunning tragedy of death in their family, whether they have lost their jobs, whether they buckle under the stress of the holiday, they often feel apart from much of the world this time of the year.

One amazing statistic is that the No. 1 day for cardiac episodes that lead to death on the calendar each year is Dec. 25. Number one.

Right behind it, in a dubious second place, is Dec. 26.

Number three is Jan. 1.

The county’s unemployment rate is skirting a point where at least 10 percent of the workforce is out of a job, and that counts only those still looking.

Hundreds will rely on the effort and energy of volunteers to consume a warm Christmas meal this week, just as more than 600 relied on that same generosity of spirit to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

Parents, such as the Semper Fi Sisters who recently visited Gulf County, will be anxious and sad about the deployment of their sons and daughters in uniform, joy elusive until their return from war.

There is a palpable angst, a turbulence to life these days that seems, for many, to be too much.

Many people are simply overmatched by the festiveness of the holiday season, not seeing or believing there is much to celebrate.

In a way, though, these are the folks that ground us, that help remind us what this holiday is about, whether manifested in the volunteers who devote their Christmas to reaching out and feeding others, providing bicycles for children from needy families or toys to youngsters whose trees, if they are even up, are bare.

For shining through those letters in the back section of this newspaper is the message of the season.

That message is not driven by the newest Dora outfit or motor bike or fishing pole, but by understanding the root of the holiday.

We would argue that while on the surface Christmas is about the birth of a baby who would change the world; it is really about the philosophy attached to that person who strode the earth more than 2,000 years ago.

That philosophy is one centered on simple humanity, in treating others as you would like to be treated.

There was no room for the money-changers of his time, no inheritance for the powerful, but only a place for those who understood that we are all human beings, none any better than the next, who believed that turning the other cheek a virtue, extending a hand to fellow man a responsibility, a calling.

It is a theme common to most monotheistic religions, a theme of nurturing the common good, of preaching non-violence and peace, of being a citizen of the world, giving rather than taking, of simple justice and the utter lack of any sense of entitlement to anything in this life.

In that spirit, the staff here at The Star wishes all of our wonderful readers a peaceful, healthy, restful and blessed holiday season.

May you find the gift of your desires this holiday season, be it a Dora the Explorer doll, a Hannah Montana outfit, the desire to be a better person or the will of transformation for a better life in 2010.

Merry Christmas.