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The Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and God

Over the recent Thanksgiving break, my brother brought up the subject of someone being too old to still believe in Santa Claus. The child is nine and the family goes through a slightly elaborate scheme to keep his belief thriving. My brother has a problem with it, I do not. It did get me to thinking though. Unless your parents go out of their way to provide you with evidence of the existence of Santa, the belief naturally dissolves fairly quickly. It's only when the facade is played up that these childhood beliefs stay intact. It's my feeling that we first stop believing in the tooth fairy, because we're either awoken or we see a note in a familiar handwriting. This happened to me at a very young age. I'm pretty sure I never truly believe a fairy flew into my room, but who was I to argue with cold hard cash under my pillow? Santa Claus...I'm not sure I ever really believed. Seemed to improbable and the fact my grandmother didn't have a fireplace kinda ruined the whole concept. If you're going to get mad, stop reading here. You know what's coming next.

So if we stop believing in outlandish tales of made up figures, why do so many people still believe in God? Isn't the concept of believing in God as far-fetched as say, Santa? Santa knows when you've been naughty and nice? Isn't that God's job? Are they one in the same? And honestly, I have a problem believing that everyone who is poor was naughty. It doesn't add up. Why would the Tooth Fairy, if real, give one child $2 and one child $20. Did they have better teeth? Or is their some type of Fairy dental plan that gets you more return? I have a problem believing in any entity that I can't see, hear or touch. I respect others beliefs, but I'm ready to debate them at the drop of a hat. This isn't meant to be a religious debate. My real point is these childhood beliefs end when we attain the ability to reason. So why does this ability not count when it comes to religion? My guess is because there is always that part of us that wants to believe in something magical. In faith, we basically revert to our childhood minds and take what is told to us without questioning it. I find this fascinating on so many levels. But back to Santa and the Tooth Fairy.

While discussing this with someone I brought up the point that if you are 9-10 years old and still believe in Santa Claus (I'm assuming the Tooth Fairy has been outed by now), there might be something wrong. Now I don't want to say that a child who believes in Santa Claus is learning disabled, because that would be irresponsible, but I'd like to think that at ten years old they have the cognitive skills and the deductive reasoning abilities to know the difference between reality and fantasy. Sure there's that child part that wants it to be true, but at some point the reality of the story should have them questioning it. Kids question everything, so why do some not question Santa Claus? Why don't all of them question God? Isn't that even more far fetched than Santa? At least on Christmas morning there are presents under the tree to play up the charade. What does a child see from God? Grandma died, Uncle Joe is sick, and the kid at school is in a wheelchair. Can't wait to get to sit next to my maker. Now if you believe in God, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but why is this not questioned more? I have told many a person that if they can show me proof of God's existence, I'll believe tomorrow. Still waiting.

Now here's the oddest correlation to the whole thing. Lost in all the holiday hoopla, with the red suits and reindeer games is the fact that this holiday isn't about presents and mistletoe, it's about the birth of Christ. You know, God's son. Now obviously you're not going to tell your five year old that today we celebrate the birth of our lord and savior's son, who at 33 was nailed to a cross and died for our sins. Now in honor of him, we put up a tree and drink eggnog. Daddy and Mommy go into debt and inevitably your shithead aunt will get drunk and ruin dinner. Nope we tell them about Santa Claus, because it's a nicer story. Once they reach that golden age of bullshit recognition they stop believing and go into phase two of their lives. Bringing down the hopes and dreams of younger kids who still believe and showing them where Mommy hides the presents.

My friend said that she loves that kids who are older and believe still have that naivety and innocence. I feel that's dangerous. Being naive is a lack of understanding. One who is in many ways simple. When a child becomes a certain age and shows these levels of immaturity, I would question what else they might be tricked into believing. It's a crazy sick world out there and there are a lot of evil people. I'd like to keep all children safe from harm and a knowledgeable, realistic child will stay a lot safer in my opinion than one who is easily swayed to believe in fairies and an imaginary fat man in a red suit who flies around with reindeer. But then again, who am I to say, maybe I'm the one who is jaded. I mean I don't believe in an omnipotent being who created everything and watches over us and who we will get to sit with once we die in a cloud decorated place called Heaven. Wow, I guess Santa Claus being real isn't that crazy after all.

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