Readers: Santa isn't real

This little bit of wisdom made some parents in Santa Fe Springs, CA, go ballistic when a priest, Rev. Ruben Rocha, announced, during a "mass" service, that Santa Clause wasn't real. Story here.

"I believe they've taken some of the innocence out of her childhood, and I'm very upset," said parent Rick Martin, whose daughter attends kindergarten.

How has finally telling your child the truth about something "taken some of the innocence" away from her childhood? I appalls me that parents are surprised when children turn away from God. Let's think about it... Parents tell children that Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and even the flippin' Tooth Fairy are real. Then, after about seven to ten years, the kid finds out that his or her parents have been lying for all those years about the existence of these fictitious characters. For some reason, some parents haven't made the connection that the child will, in time, start to question everything else that you have insisted is real (God). Maybe we should start telling our kids the truth from Day 1 instead of making up a nice little fluffy story about everything. In the article, Tod Tamberg, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said this:

"There's a time and place for everything, and this was not the time or the place or the age group to be talking about the true meaning of Christmas, at least in terms that young children cannot understand," Tamberg said.

"(Rocha) doesn't have permission to tell kids of that age that information. It's not his job or his role, and I know he regrets it now."

"Now my daughter doesn't believe in Santa Claus. She sees him, and she knows it's a costume. What happens when we go to the mall this year? It'll just be a costume to her," Martin added. "I've just been let down by this whole deal."

The true meaning of Christmas? I doubt you have a clue what the true meaning of Christmas is about, sport. The entire point of the gift-giving tradition is so that people will remember the gift that Jesus Christ gave on the cross (His life) over 2000 years ago. What about this can a child NOT understand? So what, exactly does Rev. Rocha have your sacred permission to speak about? What, in your half witted opinion, is "his job or his role"? I always figured that a priest or pastor should be the one who spreads truth, not some socially accepted psycho-babble about a fictitious person that uses hallucinogenic drugs and imagines he's flying across the world & traveling down chimneys while being unable to even control his own eating habits (read: he's FAT). I'm not even going to start with the fact that not every house has a chimney. In Florida does he open the sliding glass door? Great, now our children are looking up to a burglar too.

Now you're in a tizzy because your daughter knows it is a costume when she goes to the mall? BOO HOO! Let me tell you a story. When I was just a little tike, my parents brought me to Disney World. While I was being unamused by the pathetic excuses for "entertainment" there (other than the spinning tea cups, but even those didn't go fast enough), we decided to go on the Capt. Nemo ride (one of the coolest looking submarines I've seen to date). Well, everything was great... Right up until I saw the WIRE that was holding all the little fake fish in place out in the water. I guess I should have been slobbering on the window looking at the octopus like everyone else, but I realized that his motions were rather repetitive, so I started looking at the rest of the stuff down there. Once I deemed my little discovery important enough to notify my parents that these fish were fake, apparently I made the rest of the skulls full of mush cry after they, too, began to notice the wires.

So look at it this way, Tod, at least your precious little girl wasn't wrapped up in the fantasy of the moment when she finally came to the realization that Santa Clause wasn't real. But do you know the part that'll really tweak your jaw here, Tod? I was more upset that they (Disney) tried to pull off a lie, rather than having real fish, or none at all, just as your daughter is probably more hurt that you lied to her rather than having told her the truth about Santa.

Ladies and gentlemen, please be honest with your children.

Crispy