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Dear Mr. Claus,
Have I been naughty or nice this year? I don't really have the ability to make that judgment; so, seeing that you are the one who hands out the presents, I defer to you.
Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that I am found worthy to be put on the "nice" list, the presents I would like include...
Umm, actually, I can't really think of any.
Asking for world peace and the like, whilst it has a suitably pious sound, is really an appeal to the wrong authority; I know that you don't provide that sort of thing. I'd like my health back, but that's not your bailiwick either.
Tuning to the more material things that are traditionally your province, I can't think of anything much that I need or want. A contract would be good, but I can get by a few more months without one, and it may be provided by ordinary market forces in that time.
Mentioning that brings me to the one thing that I'd really like. Not having much to do, or much ability to do it with, I spend a lot of my waking hours surfing the 'Net: the UnaBoard, LJ, individuals' blogs, you name it. And I read those things.
I read about single mothers trying to raise families on the wages earned at three minimum-wage jobs. I read about divorced fathers whose children, glimpsed from afar, are in rags despite their paying most of their salaries as "child support". I read about people heartbroken over dying pets, or dying relatives, or dying friends, that they have no way to help. I read about people's double course loads in college, actually trying to learn something. I read about people wondering why they're alone in a world where everyone else seems to have friends and/or lovers. I read about people so badly depressed that killing themselves seems a reasonable way, might really be a reasonable way, to ease their pain.
And I read about other things. Mr. Claus, at your age, I'm sure that nothing can actually shock you anymore, but I'm equally certain that you have no more desire to read about those things than I have to write about them.
I think that I've done pretty well this year; but we have to look to the future, so I'd like to ask you for a gift. It's probably not in your power to give, so you may have to rope in a Higher Power. If so, I hope that you will.
Give me a sense of proportion, so that I might never look at myself and think that I actually have problems.
John "Akatsukami" Braue Tuesday, November 26, 2002 |
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