For some reason this season made me think not about the real meaning of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, Ramadan, Solstice or any other holiday, but about the real meaning of Santa Claus -- and all the valuable lesson Santa teaches for living in corporate America. Think about what a kid learns on first discovering there are is no Santa Claus. She learns (if she does not already know) that authority figures lie, and that lies by authority figures are good lies, lies you are rewarded for believing, lies you should go believing for as long as possible. If (as is usual) it is another kid who tells her there is no Santa , she learns that those who expose the lies of authority figures are wicked destroyers of innocence, that the proper response to learning that an authority figure has lied is to protect others from the awful truth. -- Gar W. Lipow 815 Dundee RD NW Olympia, WA 98502 http://www.freetrain.org/
