Each year at this seaon, the blog includes our traditional holiday story. Here it is again.
Santa’s Belt
Jack Lippman
It was that time of the year when things were getting hectic at
the North Pole. Santa and the elves had
been working overtime to make
certain that everything would be ready to go on Christmas Eve. After
all, children of all ages throughout the world were waiting for Santa to bring them
the gifts which they
had been wishing for, gifts to make their dreams come
true.
“Rufus,” Santa called out. “Are all of the presents ready
to load into my bag? Have our helpers down on Earth, the toy
manufacturers, gotten their toys and games ready for the kids? And how
about the parents? You know, they all have to do their part too!
Hey, we only have a few days left!”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Claus,” Rufus replied. “There won’t be
any foul-ups this year. The toys are all ready to go!”
“And is my sleigh ready? Are the reindeer in good shape?”
“Don’t worry, Santa,” Rufus reassuringly replied. “The
sleigh has been repainted, the runners greased and the harnesses
repaired. And the reindeer are just fine. Comet and Cupid are over
their colds and the others have even gotten used to Rudolf, who wasn’t even in
that poem about us. Even Donder and Blitzen have calmed down.
Santa, you must stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine!”
It had been three years since Rufus had been promoted to the
position of Chief Elf in Santa’s workshop. Of course, he had been helping
out there for many years but only recently had Santa learned of Rufus’ prior
experience working closely with Merlin the Magician centuries ago. Some
of Rufus’ innovations, obviously learned from that apprenticeship with the
ancient wizard, had greatly increased the efficiency of Santa’s
operation. For example, it was Rufus who had developed the mathematical
formulas which, when put into practice, enabled Santa to defy mere physical
laws and be in many different of places at the same time. Rufus had
solved the problem of running out of toys with a procedure which in effect,
cloned one toy from another, so Santa’s bag was never empty. And of course, he
used a lot of old Merlin’s techniques to ease Santa’s trip up and down chimneys
throughout the world, without his red outfit ever getting dirty. Finally,
it was Rufus who convinced Santa to include intangible things such as peace, love,
brotherhood and wellbeing among the gifts he left on Earth for those who
deserved them.
It was just a few nights before Christmas when Rufus encountered
Santa in a state of real panic.
“Santa, what’s the matter? Why are you holding your waist
like that?”
“Can’t you see, you darn fool! I’m holding my pants
up! If I let go, they’ll fall down. It happened this morning.
My suspenders snapped and I don’t have a belt big enough to fit around me to
hold my pants up. Rufus, they keep falling down and if we can’t fix them,
how can I go out on Christmas Eve? Rufus, do something to help me!
You must!”
“Now, Mr. Claus” the elf answered, holding back a snicker.
“I can see how this happened. Come to think of it, I should have seen it
coming and done something about it. I’ve watched the way you’ve been
eating all of that delicious food Mrs. Claus prepares for you. Pies and
cakes, chickens and steaks, soups and puddings, pizzas and knishes, pasta and
dumplings and on and on. I’ve seen you put away enough for an army at one
sitting and top it off with a banana split and a chocolate bar.
What did you expect?”
“Stop your preaching, Rufus! What would your Merlin
do? Come on. Think of something so that I don’t disappoint all the
children who’ll be waiting for me on Christmas Eve! I can’t go out there
with my pants falling down!”
“Santa, I don’t think suspenders will do the job for you any
more because of the pear shape you’ve developed! We must to get you a
belt big enough to hold up your pants!”
“What do you think I’ve been doing all day? I’ve been
looking for one and there just aren’t any made that big.”
Rufus thought for a minute and stroked his chin. He then
turned his eyes upward and look toward the stars, fixing them on the
constellation Orion the Hunter. In an instant, using a mystic incantation
remembered from his days with Merlin, he turned himself into a thunderbolt and
flew up into the heavens directly at the strip of stars which formed Orion’s
belt. Grasping as many as he could, Rufus flew back to Earth and
fashioned a belt from them for Santa. The old man, finding for the first
time since his suspenders had snapped that he was able to keep his pants up,
was ecstatic.
Star map showing the constellation, Orion the Hunter
A few nights later, Santa was able to travel his appointed
rounds delivering gifts to children of all ages throughout the world. As
he headed back toward the North Pole, he smiled up at the constellation Orion
the Hunter, whose belt, as you can see on any clear evening when you look up in
the sky, consists of only three stars, which was all that Rufus left up there.
Circling the Earth, Santa made a promise to go on a diet.
He had learned his lesson. Soon, recognizing the welcoming lights of the
workshop far below, the reindeer guided the sleigh into a slow descent and the
jovial old man once more waved his hand to the world, crying out, “Happy
Holidays to all, and to all a good night, especially to you, Rufus!”
Shrimp and Art
The one magazine I subscribe to, and read each week, is Bloomberg Businessweek.
It is far more than just a business magazine. It also focuses in great detail on
technology, politics, economics and almost every other important aspect of our
culture. It even comments on fashion and
style. (Discounted annual subscriptions at
about $30 a year for 50 issues are available if you look for them on the
internet.) I get the feeling that the news
and articles in it cost far more to produce than what its
advertisements and subscriptions take in, and that it must draw upon other
resources of Bloomberg’s vast communications network to make it such a fine
publication. I recommend it highly.
In any event, last week’s issue included two articles which I would be
remiss if I did
not pass them on to this blog’s readers. One, dealing with tainted seafood, shrimp in
particular, has resulted in my deciding to permanently forgo that tasty
delicacy. But
decide for yourself. Read the article on contaminated shrimp by clicking right here!
The other fascinating article dealt with art auctions on cruise ships,
and made it very clear that a vessel’s gambling casino is not the only place on
board a cruise ship where passengers can easily be separated from their
money. You can read that eye-opening article by
clicking right here.
After checking out these two articles, I suspect some of you will be
doing three
things … swearing off shrimp, staying away from art auctions on
cruise ships and
possibly subscribing to Bloomberg Businessweek.
JL
One Can Be "Too" Religious
Religious beliefs give meaning to life.
Mankind has always wondered how the universe came to be, how “life” was
created and what forces govern that “life” as it has evolved over time. Some say we will never know the full answers
to questions like these. Some say the
answers are such that the human mind is incapable of understanding them. And so, until we have the true answers to
such questions, if ever, mankind must depend on faith
to satisfy its curiosity.
The form the organized structure of such faith
takes is known as religion. By
believing in religion, any religion, mankind is provided with answers, but they
must be accepted as unprovable matters of faith, not requring universally
irrefutable evidence. Proof is not necessary. Such answers in
the form of religious beliefs serve to give meaning to life for some.
Others who lack such faith appear to be none the worse for it. Those who turn to religions are equally
comfortable.
Religion takes many forms. All seek to provide answers and all are equal. The answers provided by the Roman
Catholic Church, for example, are equal to the answers accepted by an
illiterate native on a remote Pacific island who worships the vastness of the
ocean or a gigantic tree which has been there for generations. It doesn’t matter
what a religion’s beliefs are. What is
important is that the believer is satisfied that he or she has found answers to
the “incomprehensible” in that religion’s teachings.
Problems ensue when believers in one religion
are strongly convinced that their beliefs are the correct ones and that those who accept
what other religions teach are not correct.
Some are so zealous in their beliefs that they are intolerant of
those who believe otherwise. The word
“non-believer,” to them, is no longer merely descriptive but suddenly becomes one
of damnation. Sometimes this can lead to
their attempting to deny the right of other religions to exist. This attitude
on the part of zealots can even result in the justification of murder of those
who believe differently.
As a result, we have had massacres,
inquisitions, pogroms and bloodshed in the name of religion throughout history. The Crusades are an example as are the
Shia-Sunni division in Islam and the Roman Catholic-Protestant division in
Christianity, all of which involved the killing of people who believed
differently. When the Biblical Israelites
entered the Promised Land, they did not treat those already living there kindly.
What I am getting at is that a great deal of the trouble in this world
can be blamed on people who believe too fervently in their chosen
religion. To me, that is a greater curse than a total lack of religious belief or
having faith in things like witchcraft or devil-worship.
It appears that of the three major Western
"Abrahamic" religions, Judaism and Christianity have matured sufficiently so that they no
longer insist on their respective faith’s exclusivity. Islam, the youngest of the three, has
not yet reached that point, and some of its adherents still believe in jihad, a
war or struggle against non-believers, which does not exclude
violence. In the Middle East where Islam
is dominant, sadly, religious belief and politics are inseparable, complicating the problem.
A final word of caution: Be careful of those who take their religious beliefs
too seriously, putting them ahead of their membership in the human race. Their zealotry can lead to violence. Religion
and its rituals seek to provide comforting answers to questions which are
unanswerable for many. That is good, but
that is all it should be. It should
never be a justification for violence against those who believe otherwise.
A religion which cannot even tacitly accept the existence of other
religions and which denies their right to seek another path to the mountaintop
is very dangerous. It can inspire its
most zealous followers to commit heinous acts.
This has been true throughout history, and it remains true today.
JL
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Jack Lippman
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