This X-Mas Challenge was shared to me on Medium dot com by Jack Bohannan, who was challenged by Melissa Gray.

I doubt that Jack knew what he was getting himself into by passing me The Challenge.

But I will not let him down.

In some ways, dear Santa, you’re the antagonist of my exclusion.

When I was 6, the girl next-door — an older, wiser, and more grown-up 7-year-old — told me all about the things that you were going to bring her because she was a good girl. I told her my family didn’t do Christmas. She made fun of me and told me I’d be lucky to get coal, so I told her Santa wasn’t real.

She ran crying to her parents and told her they lied to her.

Naturally. But what came next was revealing of an entire culture’s mindset.

Her parents told my parents (instructed is more like it) that they were to tell my younger brother and me that Santa was real, but that he just didn’t come to our house.

The reason he didn’t come to our house was left up to my parents, which sounds a lot like the typical, “Not in my backyard!” response to homelessness.

• Were my parents supposed to tell us we were bad?

• Was I supposed to believe I was a bad kid to protect their narrative?

And then I became the token Jewish kid at school, who’s mom came to his class to talk about Hanukkah, because we were the only Jews anyone knew. She brought in our Menorah (Chanukiah) from home.

I know… just another, among all the ways I’m “special.”

When I’m feeling really thoughtful and wise, I use this energy to intensify my alignment in personal understanding and self-knowing. When I’m feeling whiny and indulgent in suffering, I burrow into feelings that remind me of you, dear Santa.

I know you’re just one symbol of the big party I’m not really a part of, except to be reminded about how a Jewish rabbi died to save me, but that’s not what this piece is about, so I digress… my apologies.

Is this time for the white privilege conversation?

No, plenty of ethnicities celebrate Christmas, and besides, I’m technically considered white and this is not my holiday.

But I do feel called to point out how this story with my neighbor from 30+ years ago points to the fragility in the dominant culture in America.

Oops, am I allowed to say America? Stanford says no. … Good job guys.

What’s coming up for me is the question I already asked.

In a cultural way, dear Santa, you’re a symbol of commercialism and delusion.

I get it. This piece is bound to upset a lot of people. I’m sorry to scrape at people’s comfortable and calcified realities, but, you have far too many incongruencies for me to take you seriously.

It’s reported that your policy is:

• You only get toys if you’re a good boy or girl

• You personally deliver every present to every qualifying child while they’re asleep

• Your elves make everything by hand

But, how does this work for a Sony Playstation?

How does this work for the car that shows up in the driveway of the suddenly-satisfied wife in the car commercials?

“What do you want Santa to bring you this year?” ask choruses of parents to their children, not understanding (or not caring) that kids don’t understand metaphors and symbolism until a certain stage of brain development:

The worst part is this story teaches children that commercialism is more important than reality. It teaches them tribal values instead of human values. It suggests that love can be bought, that wrongs can be righted with “stuff”, and that commerce is more important than connection.

The stories told to children about you give them a baseline for reality that’s based on deceit.

In an economic way, dear Santa, you’re a litmus test for the health of the modern American economy.

As Christmas spending goes, often goes the American economy’s end-of-year financial health.

There are entire industries that rely on the spirit that you inspire. (spirit and inspire both come from the same Latin root).

“Industries completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9 billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the U.S. in 2002.” Quote source link

It goes on to say that, “Consumers feel the need to assimilate to the norms of the holiday, which can result in debt. Interest rates benefit the credit card industry… The demand of Christmas creates jobs that otherwise would not exist.”

I wonder how many bankruptcies occur because people overspend to load your sleigh. Whether it’s because of the christmas creep or just poor priorities, this article says, “41% of Americans are willing to take on debt due to gift shopping.”

The specific data on the number of bankruptcies declared because of Christmas spending is hard to pinpoint, but,

Pile on interest payments and it’s a straightfoward parallel from Christmas shopping to bankruptcy.

Could we say that gaslighting is a national pastime?

Let’s look at a few specific cases:

1. Native Americans — There were a number of treaties signed but not honored. It reminds me of Obi-Wan’s line in Star Wars, “These are not the droids you’re looking for” Just replace “droids” with “sacred lands,” and don’t get me started about the smallpox gift that kept on giving.

2. Black and minority america today — “The greatest gaslight to Black Americans has been the insistence that racism in 2020 is a figment of our imaginations, economic disparity is a thing of the past, and that all Americans are on a leveled playing field.”

3. Social media — Everyone is happy except you.

4. Consumer culture — You’ll be happy if you buy this. And, you’re not happy unless you buy this. This Wikipedia article about you cites writer Carol Jean-Swanson who wrote in Mothering, that, “the original figure of St. Nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today’s Santa Claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption.” Without generations of corporate profits, who would you be today?

Commercialism is hopefully an easy one to see.

Whether it’s in our history or practiced in modern politics, gaslighting is sown into the foundation of our great country, and without consumerism, there wouldn’t be a Santa as we know him.

What I’m most interested in, at this moment, and concerned about is the gaslighting we do to our children (I’m a parent too), “for the sake of tradition.” But this tradition, just like “traditional” western medicine, is relatively young.

There’s a lot to unpack in these last few sentences that’s simply out of scope for this article — I have 8 pages of draft (size 11 font, 0.2" margin) to prove it — so perhaps the carrot of a request that I have for you, dear Santa, is a Libertarian one:

How can those who’ve adopted this tradition share the joy that your story brings without making others responsible for your story?

Let me know in the comments!

If there’s anything to ask for in this X-Mas challenge from you dear Santa, it’s to put an end to the gaslighting and stonewalling that’s become so normalized in cultures (especially American) around the world today.

Whatever your practice on December 25, my hope for each of us is temperance, tolerance, and transcendence, and a happy and healthy time with friends and family.

Author bio: Hi! I’m Joshua Blatman.

I am an Earth school student and teacher, family man, writer, musician, survivor, healer, and psychonaut. I’ve been to almost every state, I’ve lived on 5 continents, and now I’m raising my family in my hometown.

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