The Child Santa Claus (#31 B5-05)

Simple lang ang paningin ng bata – puso sa puso.

This story is inspired by child I met loitering in the main lobby of a big mall. She stared at passers-by, spotted her ‘victims’, approached them, smiled, and greeted them a Merry Christmas. I asked her what she was doing. She replied, “Nothing. It’s just so nice to see sad faces suddenly light up and smile back when you greet them. It makes my day.”

eastwind journals

‘True Tales’ Series – Volume 26

June 27, 2023 – Archives tr324v2
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com

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(Courtesy of Lazada PH)

GRANDMA – Rebecca, my child, what would like for Christmas? Anything in the world that will make you happy.

REBECCA – A cellphone?

GRANDMA – It won’t make you happy, believe me.

REBECCA – A cellphone will make me happy.

GRANDMA – What will make you really really happy?

REBECCA – To make me happy? Okay, I wanna be a Santa Claus.

GRANDMA – That’s hard but it can be done. Go to the mall with your mom when she shops. Just smile at every sour face you see, and say ‘Merry Christmas’.

At the crowded mall, without hesitation, Rebecca smiled at sour faces, and greeted them with a Merry Christmas. She added a new gimmick. She offered a ‘give-me-five’ hand to a few selected ones who were super-sad.

GRANDMA – So what happened?

REBECCA – So many sour faces, grandma. It is as if it is not Christmas.

GRANDMA – Christmas sometimes makes people more sad.

REBECCA – As soon as I smile, their sour faces light up. Wow, how nice. To make them smile is my happiest moment. When I gave this old lady a violent ‘give-me-five’, she almost fell from her wheelchair. I felt so good, as if she had magic in her hand. Why are they so unhappy?

GRANDMA – They have forgotten to be happy, until they remembered when you smiled.

REBECCA – But why?

GRANDMA – When people get big problems, they close all their windows and think of nothing but their problems. They lock themselves inside the jail they themselves make. They prefer the darkness. Sometime, it is hard to get out of their jail.

REBECCA – You mean a simple smile is like a key that unlocks the jail?

GRANDMA – Yes, That’s the power of the simple smile.  As soon as you unlock it, the jail disappears. Pfffft.

REBECCA – I felt that. The sudden change from a frown to a smile. And when they smile back at me, I feel so happy.

GRANDMA – A smile is contagious, especially coming from a child.

REBECCA – What has a child got that an adult doesn’t have?

GRANDMA – If you were an adult, and you approach people, they would back away.

RECECCA – I don’t get it.

GRANDMA – Adults are cautious and suspicious with other adults they don’t know. But with children, their suspicion disappears, and trust is somehow retained, because they know you mean no harm.

REBECCA – How sad that adults are that way. I know what you mean, grandma. Me, I don’t care. Thank you, grandma, for making me a mini-Santa. A smile is better than a cellphone.

She was at the mall every day for a week, obsessed with making people happy. When her mom wasn’t shopping, the driver would bring her. She met many a second or third time. They all smiled at her and offered her a ‘give-me-five’. Then she met the old lady again. When Rebecca offered her hand, she backed away.

OLD LADY – I remember you. No more violent give-me-fives. I have a gift for you because you made me so happy. (She gives Rebecca a gift wrapped in red with a red ribbon.)

REBECCA – (Frantically open the gift.) Oh no, I can’t accept this. Cellphones make me sad.

OLD LADY – What do I give you then?

REBECCA – No one gives Santa a gift. I am the giver. My gift is the happiness I get from giving. I am a small Santa. But, you know what, to make you happy, I’ll take the cellphone anyway. I lied. Cellphones make me happy. Merry Christmas.

Remember, be like Rebecca. Be a child once again, Christmas or no Christmas. Be a Santa for sad and desperate people. They are all around you. And it takes just a few muscles to smile. And your reward is a hundred-fold. It is so easy to be happy and so hard to be sad, if you just know the secret of little children. Their secret is also inside you, the energy in your inner spirit, that you have somehow shelved. Yet, that primordial energy was there even before you were in your mother’s womb, waiting for you to use it.

A psychologist had theory. She believes that when you smile at someone, it sends an electronic signal to the brain that stimulates brain hormones that trigger happiness. eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com

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More Inspirational Articles – eastwindjournals.com.

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1) Father Fernando Suarez – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UP3LHBgtIc.
2) Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZcwNimBSg

Download free e-book ‘Healing Stories of Sr. Raquel’ at eastwindjournals.com/2021/08/13/healing-stories-of-sr-raquel-e-book-free-download/).

Author’s book. At age 26, the author (eastwind) drifted through Europe, hitchhiking 25,000 kilometers for three straight years. He wrote a book on his adventures, Wings and Wanderlust. He learned deep insights that radically changed his view of life, which he wants to share with readers looking for themselves or wanting to catch the wind. More about the book (get a copy) = https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/02/25/more-about-the-book-wings-and-wanderlust/

Author’s Credentials. Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.

amdg