BY JAY BRYANT | DEC 24, 2023
“Why does Santa give rich kids more presents than poor kids?” the little girl asked.
From the mouths of babes, her grandfather thought. Of course, she had no idea of the complexity of the question. He knew the answer, and he didn’t want to take too long in telling it to her, for fear she would interpret his silence, though momentary, as confirmation of her worst fears.
That had happened to him before. In the most dramatic case, a businessman had asked a question on the telephone, a question for which the answer was far more complex than the man could have known. The grandfather, not yet a grandfather then, had hesitated, and the man had interjected, “I guess your silence tells me all I need to know.” That was certainly wrong, but it didn’t matter. The man had hung up, and the grandfather knew he had lost a lot of money and a friend in those few seconds of hesitation.
“Because,” he told the little girl, “Santa isn’t dealing in things, really. He’s dealing in happiness.” Continue reading