2020 was, for millions of people, largely upside down for humanity. As at this end of the year, almost over 2 million lives had been lost to the cold hands of Covid-19. Life turned on its head, as what we could not see so overwhelmed us that we were unable to embrace what we could see. We had to flee from the familiar. In spite of it all, we were still able to stand.
The Santa phenomenon. With all that happened in 2020, one would have excused Santa if he had chosen to stay away at the end of the year. Indeed, for many breadwinners, grappling with the excruciating pain of not being able to meet with basic necessities for their families, the easy option might have been to declare to the children that Santa had gone AWOL or simply unable to make it due to the restrictions in place on account of the pandemic.
Yet, you only need to take a look at the innocence strutting around in these little ones, completely oblivious of the gloom in the air out there, to realise that even with the pandemic, they were largely unmoved. Looking at them, innocently carrying on, there was just no way one could conceivably shut out the gift-bearing Santa, for to do so would be to shut down their innocence and rob them of hope.
I saw the special Sesame Street Family programme hosted by CNN the other day. One child asked if Santa was still going to be able to make it, in spite of the pandemic. The American Infectious Diseases Expert, Dr Fauci, responded by assuring the children that he had personally gone to the North pole to administer the covid vaccine on Santa Claus and that he would deliver as usual, restoring their hope. If I was going to pretend to have forgotten that, the young man at home was not going to let me. He was quick to remind me of that on Christmas eve, even as he wondered how Santa was going to make it into the house when ours does not have a chimney.
I smiled. The innocence. The hope. The knowledge. I smiled, even as tears welled up inside of me, wondering about the millions of children out there who would have their hopes dashed, if they ever had any, in the first place, on account of poverty, pandemic and all sorts. I thought to myself about the essence of hope. I thought about the innocence of hope – that unquestioning faith in the fact that the one whom one has put in a trust in will deliver, no matter what. The trust that Santa will deliver, in spite of the pandemic.
On Christmas day, the young man was on the phone with his Cousins in another part of the world and the first shot from him was to find out if Santa delivered over there just as he did, for him. More like a confirmation of his assurance that nothing was capable of holding Santa back from delivering on his promise.
My generation grew up, not quite fully comprehending the Santa phenomenon, to put it politely. I smile as I look back. It is a foreign concept indeed. A borrowed one. But I find this idea of some benevolent visitor from nowhere sneaking in to deliver gifts fascinating. The child grows up, fully confident that he/she is important enough that this Santa will come all the way to bring him a gift. He is self-assured. He has faith. He has hope. In spite of it all.
2020, for many, was dark. Yet, as dark it was, as we step into 2021, we must find a way to keep the flicker of hope alive, in spite of all that is going on around us. We must be like the children, assured that our future has been vaccinated by God and he will deliver on his promise to us, no matter the challenges. We must never let the dire circumstances extinguish our faith. We must never let the overwhelming concerns of the moment steal our hope.
We must be like the children, take each day at a time, embrace the future with hope, trusting that Santa will deliver, no matter what. Our houses might not have chimneys, still Santa will find a way. God will always find a way. We must keep hope alive. No matter how tough it gets. No matter how late we think it is. God will always find a way. This is wishing you the very best of 2021.
(c) Simbo Olorunfemi, 2021.
#ichoosehope #Thanksgiving
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