Dear Santa ... (letter to Santa)
Dear Santa, every year as usual, many children write letters to you and ask for gifts and today I too write my letter for Christmas. This year, strangely unlike the others, I ask you to deposit the sack full of gifts and to give all the children what I list to you now.
Dear Santa, I ask you to give the children a caress. Many of them live in the divisions of families and even if they dress fashionably and have an assured future for their prosperous families, nobody caresses them and makes them understand that the real gift that can be given to a person is not the material object but a smile, a kiss a hand to reach out to help others.
Dear Santa Claus, I ask you to tell these children that going to the best schools, gyms, training schools is not everything from life. Teach us that knowledge is not everything but the most important thing is giving, loving, being together with others. Make them understand that their grandparents, even earning half of their parents, have raised seven, eight children who have nothing to envy to the generation of now instead in their families live alone or at most with a brother just because their parents want to give him everything the cosumism of this world.
Dear Santa Claus, bring these same gifts of Jesus to these children. Bring them gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold which means the value of life, incense which means the scent of life and myrrh which means the pain of life. Let him understand that life is a precious gift and must be lived to the fullest by taking advantage of all the gifts of God and even if they do not become great people in the profession and fulfill the expectations of their parents they can always be great men of value and enrich their families not money but of love and liking.
Dear Santa Claus teaches these children to pray. Make them understand that in the morning when they wake up and in the evening before sleeping they must respect and love their God and not follow modern doctrines such as yoga, rieki or new age that do not teach the true values of life.
Dear Santa, you too have lost your value. In fact, before when December 25th came your gifts were much desired and their pleasure lasted a year instead now these children after an hour, two who receive your gift already forget about you and think about the next party they ask for.
We have come to the end of this letter. I just hope dear Santa Claus that these children in addition to this consumerism can understand the true meaning of Christmas. That God became incarnate as a man and the true teaching of Jesus that he transmitted to all men to love each other. Santa Claus we hope that these children can create a better world, the world that Jesus wants, not based on materialism and wealth but on love and mutual help.
Dear Santa Claus, this letter may seem rhetorical but unfortunately our children do not need your gifts but they have a strong need to understand that gifts, money, pleasure is not everything. They need to understand that in life there is more joy in giving than in receiving, they need to understand that they must not chase any success but simply live. They need to understand that in Heaven there is a God who created them and loves them. They need to understand that in the small and simple things of the warmth of a family, of a gift given to a needy, of a hug given to a friend, happiness lies in all these small things.
Santa Claus, you are nice to me and your figure never sets, but I hope that this Christmas you are little sought after and known by the children but I hope that instead of you they will look for the figure of the Child Jesus understanding his story, the reason for his birth, its teaching.
Written by Paolo Tescione, Christmas 2019