I Never Did "Get" That

I'd like to both hear and talk about things, that people do, that members never quite understood. An example might be: lying to one's children, about the existence of Santa Claus. To my mind, this is a rupturing of the implicit trust which IMO should exist, between a child & parent. Sure, I can come up with arguments for it-- as teaching the lesson, that no one should be fully trusted-- even if I find that a poor justification, and I don't really believe that was the originating motivation behind this practice. Currently, of course, most do this, in adherence to mere tradition, and group practice (@FatBack-- speaking of social conditioning). But this Yuletide quirk, is not the perplexing, personal contribution, with which I will start this thread; I just thought that would be a good basis, for others to grasp the thread's idea. While I don't want to overly limit the parameters, I would prefer that we focus on things, upon which all can agree. IOW, this is in the Casual Chat forum, so please let's leave the, "I never understood why Liberals/Conservatives..." when the subsequent description, by a member of one of those groups, would be disputed, by members of the other. We can all agree, though, that it is very common in our society, for parents to perpetrate this deception on their children (even if some would not describe it that way). This happens across political lines, among different races, ethnicities, and people of different sexualities. It is a human, societal phenomenon.

I also prefer, if we focus more on things that puzzled us, in our youths, so much so, that I would include things even if the person, later in life, did "get it." I did not question the oddity of the Santa ruse, however, until my adult years. Nevertheless, as I'd said, I don't want to overly narrow the thread, for those who have a question that arose during their adult years, that they'd like to make part of the conversation.

Appropriate to the day, I will christen this thread with the line: I never did get, the whole Halloween costume concept. How does it relate to the holiday? I just never understood, what one was expected to be representing, in their choice of costume: one's inner aspirations? Of course we do see some firemen, cowboys, and maybe cops, though not so many doctors, or entrepreneurs. I know it is supposed to be more of an inner fantasy-- so was the point of this celebration, to allow crossdressers to have their own day? It just seems to me, that there is no group understanding, on this point. The concept seems merely to be: dress up as anyone or anything, other than yourself. I think some others, might identify with this lack of clarity, in the tradition. That would seem to explain the costumes of those, who just try to do something clever.

I will end by noting that I have explored Wicca, so I know a bit about the foundation of Samhain, for those who might otherwise feel that the explaining of Celtic or Druidic traditions, would be helpful. Certainly, if one knows of some interesting trivia, about the celebration of the holiday, by all means, entertain us. I just don't want this thread to boil down into a religious discussion, but rather hope, all will stick with the thread concept, so that the transition to the next misunderstood behavior, will smoothly flow. I also prefer to not have posts which sound as if they were drawn from an encyclopedia-- unless, that is, they serve to shed light, on our current practice.

 

Since I got no bites on the whole, what is the supposed rationale behind our Halloween costume pick-- time to move to the thread's
#2 thing, I never did understand, which is kind of a related idea:

Why do people think that the car a person drives, is representative of that person's personality? Actually, this is a case, in which the vehicular attire of the person, is often a part of their "costume," which clearly signals to others, the desires & inner images held, by the car's driver/wearer. Unlike the person who is dressed like a Halloween slutty nurse, it is much safer to assume that someone driving a Corvette or some other sharp sports car, is trying to project a particular image, which he wants others to apply to him; thinks of themself as cool, and wants to be admired for it, by others.

But how does buying a car, make a person cool, or sophisticated, or a hard working salt of earth type, in the case of a truck owner? Except when that truck is a work vehicle, loaded with tools, and with a bed that is often stacked with lumber, or whatever else the driver needs to haul, it is more of an image that person has of themself, isn't it?

I have actually found, that among those who buy really expensive vehicles-- Jaguars and Porsches, & so on-- most seem to drive rather slowly, as if afraid of anything happening to their baby. I used to commute through an extremely affluent part of NY state, in a new 1987 Honda Civic, and-- as someone who is perennially running late-- I was always needing to pass these much higher end cars, on the narrow, windy, two-way roads to work: I was the one, driving like a hot-rodder; many of them, with the high performance cars, drove like they were in horse-drawn carriages.

Any thoughts, or feedback, on #2?

 

This is tied into “fairy tales” and “myths” though often those stories were supposed to teach you something - what I was never sure of eg don’t put eggs on walls where they can fall off or eat houses made of candy if they belong to a witch. But if you have difficulty with the European Santa then talk of the “Happy Buddha”

https://www.holymtn.com/homepage/go...he god of,stomach exposed beneath loose robes.

 

As I understand it, 'Santa Clause' was an unintended result of Emporer Constantine adapting the celebration of Jesus' birthday to pagan religions by holding it in the winter to correspond with a holiday more traditionally celebrated by those he intended would convert. It worked, but not without some of the old mythology sticking around.

As to why Santa Clause is still around today? My best guess is social conformity. Most parents dont want to be the ones with the kid that tells all the other kids that Santa/Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny isn't real. Surely to some extent because they feel it might make their kid outcast from their peers (and it very well could), but also surely in part to just avoid confrontation with other parents.

I don't have kids. I still hope to. I have no intention of telling them that there is a magical man who brings presents down the chimney once a year. BUT I'm sure someone else will, and I really don't know how I'll handle that. Prolly similar to how my parents did when I asked if Santa was real- 'well, son, if you really want to know, stay up tonight and see what happens.' I think the first year I fell asleep and never found out. But the second (or possibly third), I found out. It wasn't a big deal. It made sense.

I was far more miffed at my parents when, after years of them telling me that my student loans would be payed off from my grandpas impressive estate after he died, they instead put it all in the stockmarket ...around early 2008. I told them they shouldn't put all their (and mine, I felt at the time) eggs in one basket, 'buy some gold or something' I said. But no. I'm almost done paying it off now...

 

The real question is: why do we tell children about Santa but not Krampus?

Wikipedia: Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in the Central and Eastern Alpine folklore of Europe who, during the Advent season, scares children who have misbehaved. Assisting Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, the pair visit children on the night of 6 December, with Saint Nicholas rewarding the well-behaved children with gifts such as oranges, dried fruit, walnuts and chocolate, while the badly behaved ones only receive punishment from Krampus with birch rods.



Yup. That's how I'll handle it with my kids. 'So they told you about Santa, did they? Well, did they tell you about Krampus too...?' lol

 

Probably to prepare them for a lifetime of disappointment.

I keep my expectations consistent by expecting to be disappointed by others and I am not often let down.

 

Do you ever think that by always expecting to be disappointed that it might make others have a negative impression of you? Then again never judge a book by its cover.

 

You can always say, "I did it all myself." That is much more of a satisfied feeling than having someone say, "You would never have had it so easy if it wasn't for our help."

 

Perhaps that sounded a bit overly pessimistic. I don't mean everyone, just quite a few people.

Many years ago when I was younger I used to wonder why my father seemed to have so little patience for foolishness, but the longer I live the more I understand why.

One great example recently, went to the dollar store the other day and this person who did not have a handicap tag was straddling the line by a couple of feet. This person had no handicap placard but they felt the need to take up not only a non-handicap spot but a handicap spot.

I was very inclined to park about one foot away from their driver side door and go in the store and just stay there.

Let's face it, we live in a world where quite a few people think the entire world revolves around them and have zero consideration for others.

Of course it's not everyone

 

I have young kids, and I was always against the whole santa claus thing - don't think I ever believed in it as a kid, definitely not by the time I was 5.

I mostly just avoid the topic with the kids. My wife and everybody else wants them to believe if they want because it makes things more fun for them, so if I reveal the lie it will spoil the fun. I literally tell them I won't talk about it and to talk to their mom if they ask me. I think my oldest 8 year old knows it's not real, but kind of like me at that age he goes along with the spirit of it to get stuff and make things fun. My wife sometimes uses it as a weapon to get them to behave, so I guess it's like Christianity for kids.

 

That's an interesting angle, that didn't even occur to me; a kind of quid pro quo: if kids behave fairly well, all year, they get a payoff, in gifts. Only thing is, at least in modern times, few kids are deprived of the payoff, even if they frequently misbehave... Is this a case of Santa getting strung up, by the conditions in the powerful, Elf Union's contract?

As to your refusing to comment on Santa, to the kids-- that's hilarious! They must have formed some ideas, in their imaginations, about what terrible thing had happened between yourself and Mr. Claus, to leave you, still, with such resentment. Had you (like the kid sings, in the song) caught their mommy, kissing Santa Claus? Quite the player, that Old Saint Nick.

 

I forgot about Santa Claus being an attitude adjustor. There was even a song about it, you had to listen and heed the warning.

 

I bet you wish you still had that car.

 

Looking at the cars that are being manufactured today they can't compare with the older cars. The 50's 60's and 70's cars were classic.