Ah, If the Baby Boomer Was Santa Claus

As Christmas Day approaches, Santa Claus is busy finalizing the details of his travel plans. The elves are frantically finishing all the toys in their North Pole workshop, managing the Naughty/Nice list, and preparing the reindeer for their journey including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; while Mrs. Claus, the “queen” of the North Pole, takes charge of the logistics and overall management of the workshop helping Santa to remain cool and calm helping to keep down the stress level.

Santa Claus embodies the spirit of Christmas spreading happiness, good cheer, and a sense of magical wonderment. Santa connects us all through our different backgrounds and cultures unifying us as we celebrate the common theme of giving and receiving. Jolly good ol’ Santa is a symbol of joy, generosity, kindness, and hope!

Growing up “back in the day”, the Baby Boomer, while believing in Santa Claus, did have just a few questions which I could not ever really answer. The “biggie” question was how Santa could travel the world in a sleigh loaded with a zillion toys pulled by reindeer delivering his gifts via going down a chimney and having the stomach to eat all those cookies and drink all that milk all on Christmas Eve? OBTW, what if you didn’t have a chimney for him to slide down? Hmm?

Well, I know if the Baby Boomer was Santa Claus, he’d use all of his magical power to fix our American Society bringing it back to how he remembered it was “back in the day”!

I’d Bring Back the Institution of Family

Yes, “back in the day” the institution of family was strong. Our parents represented the Greatest Generation and we children were so fortunate to have them as our parents who provided us with the proper upbringing teaching us right from wrong by setting standards, adding structure, and holding us accountable knowing for every decision we made there was a consequence. Family dinners, family TV, family outings, family time as it was all about family. In most cases, dad was the provider while mom stayed at home and took care of all the rest.

I’d Bring Back the Importance of Church

Although, as you know, the Baby Boomer isn’t religious, he’d encourage folks to get back to going to church like we did “back in the day”. People who pray together–stay together! Church is a place where people gather for the same purpose and practice good works for the betterment of mankind.

I’d Bring Back Excellent Public Education

I’ve always been thankful for the public education I received growing up “back in the day”. I appreciated reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and saying the Lord’s Prayer to begin my school day. I appreciated the teaching of the “Three R’s” (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) forming the bedrock of basic literacy and numeracy. School was also the place where you learned how to get along as you interacted with others. If any issues arose, the school would call your parents and the parents would support the school as they seemed to work well together in creating the proper atmosphere for education.

I’d Bring Back Civility

“Back in the day”, folks genuinely cared for one another as it was all about “we” and not “me”. People could engage in civil discourse, were courteous and polite, respectful, had good manners, looked out and helped each other as there didn’t exist the anger and hatred which is so dominate in today’s American society.

I’d Bring Back Patriotism

I’m proud to be an American and “back in the day” seemingly everyone was proud to be an American. Patriotism is a deep love, loyalty, and devotion to one’s country, involving pride in its values, culture, and achievements with a commitment to civic duty, service clubs, and supporting both the local and national well-being.

I’d Bring Back a Sense of Community

Yes, “back in the day” communities were a place where neighbors became friends and you knew everyone. The blinds and windows were open as were the doors. There was always plenty of activity and activities. Community created a feeling of belonging, that everyone mattered looking out for one another which provided a safe, positive, and happy environment.

I’d Rein In Technology

“Back in the day”, you learned by doing and gained experience through frequency and repetition, trial and error, success and failure, and by being disciplined as you practiced self-discipline. You were curious, you explored and relied on your personal creativity to be entertained. Certainly, not today, as everyone relies on their technology for everything from their smartphones focusing on their apps, the internet, and now AI–it’s eliminated social interaction and social graces. Technology has led to our American society becoming somewhat stupid and lazy.

I’d Bring Back Conformity

Today, we lack any type of conformity. Hey, we can’t decide if we’re a boy or a girl, gay or straight, today’s hair color or length, tattoos, piercings, clothing, work ethic–everything’s such a blooming mess! And all those freakin’ special interest groups certainly don’t help as they’re just merely getting in the way. The Baby Boomer has a grand idea–let your special interest be America! “Back in the day” we understood what was normal and we adapted to the norm. Yes, there were codes for this and that, codes of conduct, and dress codes which helped you to conform and be what we considered to be normal.

Money–The Root of All Evil

I’ve never seen our American society so consumed by money! Certainly, “back in the day” money was important, but our parents were far less materialistic and followed a budget saving for what they wanted not wanting to go into debt or relying on credit. Nothing today is reasonable and the Baby Boomer could go on and on with examples like he has posted before but won’t. What I will say is this focus on money has made our American society so selfish and greedy–it’s truly sickening as we’re not regarded for who we are and what we do, but rather by how much money we have!

I’d Bring Back Respected Politicians

“Back in the day” we respected our politicians as they worked for their constituency rather than just themselves. They crossed the aisles in order to pass laws which strengthened America. Our congressmen and senators treated each other with dignity and respect practicing civil discourse creating a calming effect for our American society.

I’d Bring Back Media You Can Trust

Today, there are so many media outlets which do everything they can to spin what they’re attempting to report in a way which is anything but trustworthy. Reporters no longer report the news in an unbiased way as they all offer their thoughts and opinions no matter whether they support the “left” or “right”. “Back in the day” we trusted our reporters as they reported the news in an honest an unbiased way where you had no idea which political party they favored. The Baby Boomer longs for the likes of Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley.

I’d Bring Back Integrity and Morality

I’m almost daily literally shocked but not surprised at the insurmountable lack of integrity and morality which exists in our American society–it’s despicable! “Back in the day”, when we interacted, we would look one another in the eye and our handshake was our word without question–need I say more!

I’m sure you realize and it’s no surprise if the Baby Boomer was Santa Claus he’d merely return our American society to the way it was “back in the day”!

In closing, please allow me to quote the final stanza from the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas”:

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight–

‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night'”