Title: Grinch Is A Woman
Fez - December 24, 2005 04:01 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears By RORY SCHULER Staff Writer Lebanon Daily News LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas. Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only. But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums. Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” to a first-grade class at Lickdale Elementary School. “The poem has great literary value, but it goes against my conscience to teach something which I know to be false to children, who are impressionable,” said Farrisi, 43, of Myerstown. “It’s a story. I taught it as a story. There’s no real person called Santa Claus living at the North Pole.” Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either. She made her feelings clear to the classroom full of 6- and 7-year-olds, some of whom went home crying. Schaeffer got off the school bus later that day, dragging her backpack in the mud, tears in her angry little eyes. “She yelled at me, ‘Why did you lie?’” recalled Jamey’s mother, Elizabeth. “‘Why didn’t you tell me Santa Claus died?’” Elizabeth Schaeffer said she was appalled by Farrisi’s bluntness. “I had to call the school,” said Schaeffer, a part-time custodial employee for the school district who is on temporary leave after complications from her last child’s birth. “I had to do something.” Meanwhile, Farrisi, who is well versed on the history of “Santa Claus” — the traditional and literary figure — clarified her comments. “I did not tell the students Santa Claus was dead,” she explained. “I said there was a man named Nickolas of Myrna who died in 343 A.D., upon whom the Santa Claus myth (is based).” On Monday night, Jamey started to recite Moore’s famous poem while sitting on a couch next to a freshly cut tree, trimmed in tinsel and topped with a golden star: “’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house. No creatures stirred.” She paused, looked up, and said that’s when the teacher interjected, just a few lines before the verse that announces the arrival of “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.” “The teacher stopped reading and told us no one comes down the chimney,” Jamey said, curling into a ball on the couch, bracing her chin on her knees, her voice shrinking away like melting ice cream. “She said our parents buy the presents, not Santa.” Sharing in the belief of Santa Claus is a very special event in the Schaeffer home. Jamey’s the second youngest of five children. The three oldest have already grown up and left the family nest. Only Jamey and her 18-month-old sister, Amanda, remain. Last year, Elizabeth Schaeffer recalled, Santa left a trail of boot prints in charred ashes from his feet-first landing in the fireplace. And this year, the family will continue their tradition of leaving him a plate of cookies, a tall glass of milk and a ripe, shaved carrot for Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. The Schaeffer family wasn’t the only one taken aback by Farrisi’s approach to Santa. Tim and Beth Rittle said they found their 7-year-old daughter, Holly, in tears in the back seat of their car after they picked her up from school that day. “All of a sudden, Holly just started crying,” Beth Rittle said. “She said she had a substitute in music class, and she told the class there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.” Schaeffer and Rittle both called Northern Lebanon School District Superintendent Don L. Bell. Since the issue involves personnel, Bell said Monday, there is little he can say about the incident, adding that it has not been determined if any disciplinary action is warranted against Farrisi. Bell said he was aware that several parents have expressed concerns about the incident. He also noted that the handling of Santa Claus isn’t covered in the school code. “We do not have a Santa Claus policy,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, but I really can’t say anything about it.” Farrisi said she considered approaching the school’s administration with her concerns about how to handle Santa Claus in class. Instead, she said, she decided to add a disclaimer to her lesson. “Those same children are going to know someday that what their parents taught them is false,” she ex-plained. “There is no Santa Claus.” Meanwhile, Elizabeth Schaeffer was carefully thinking about her next step. She decided to make a photocopy of editor Francis P. Church’s famous response to a little girl, who wrote to The New York Sun many decades ago, asking the same question Schaeffer’s daughter struggled with last week. “I mailed (Farrisi) a copy of ‘Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,’” she said, giggling with satisfaction. “I wish I could be there when she opens it.” As for Jamey, in an attempt to reaffirm her spot on Santa’s nice list, she drew up a new letter in bright red magic marker, a message destined for the Santa she refuses to abandon. “Dear Santa ... How is the North Pole?” she said, reading her letter loudly and proudly. “How is Mrs. Claus? You are Great. From Jamey.” |
:iwentthere:
samf - December 24, 2005 06:34 AM (GMT)
Spot the difference - Joseph Ratszinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI) and ... well, you know it!
Synopsis - December 24, 2005 09:35 PM (GMT)
For the lazy; the editorial is as follows.
| QUOTE (Yes @ Virginia, there is a Santa Claus) |
| We take pleasure in answering at once thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor-- I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? -- Virginia O'Hanlon, 115 West Ninety-fifth street. Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. |
the oob - December 24, 2005 10:14 PM (GMT)
While I don't like the idea of telling kids there's no Santa Claus, you shouldn't tell them he exists when they start to doubt it.
Adolf Chiang - December 25, 2005 01:22 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (the oob @ Dec 25 2005, 10:14 AM) |
| While I don't like the idea of telling kids there's no Santa Claus, you shouldn't tell them he exists when they start to doubt it. |
I'd follow the style of parenting I experienced and tell my future children that such a man does not exist. People need to be trained into thinking rationally at an early age.
| QUOTE |
| Spot the difference - Joseph Ratszinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI) and ... well, you know it! |
The Grinch is related to Yoda, because he's also green.
We should all stop hassling the new pope. He was part of the HJ when he was a kid just like many of his contemporaries. Martin Borrmann's son grew up to become a priest and he was strongly against Nazism.
Steveo - December 25, 2005 01:36 AM (GMT)
^ I hope you never breed
Adolf Chiang - December 25, 2005 01:51 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Steveo @ Dec 25 2005, 01:36 PM) |
| ^ I hope you never breed |
Same to you, buddy!
Hauser - December 25, 2005 03:01 AM (GMT)
Rationally at an early age eh? Beat the kids I say, teach them some bloody rational discipline through the horse whip!
the oob - December 25, 2005 05:57 AM (GMT)
Ahh let kids believe in Santa Claus and shit while they're young, they're got a whole lifetime after that to be miserable cynics.
Synopsis - December 25, 2005 06:39 AM (GMT)
I agree.
I like the way the Editor put it. If you grind down the universe to its most basic parts, you not find a speck of art, not a molecule of love, not a single atom of justice or mercy, yet these things exist, we experience them all the time. Santa is the same, he is a concept, an ideal to give children some meaning to the world, and we shouldn't take that away from them.
I like the way the Editor put it. If you grind down the universe to its most basic parts, you not find a speck of art, not a molecule of love, not a single atom of justice or mercy, yet these things exist, we experience them all the time. Santa is the same, he is a concept, an ideal to give children some meaning to the world, and we shouldn't take that away from them.
Adolf Chiang - December 25, 2005 08:31 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Hauser @ Dec 25 2005, 03:01 PM) |
| Rationally at an early age eh? Beat the kids I say, teach them some bloody rational discipline through the horse whip! |
Education and discipline may start in the home, but I don't support your "horse whip" comment.
| QUOTE |
| Santa is the same, he is a concept, an ideal to give children some meaning to the world, and we shouldn't take that away from them. |
Instead of telling to children that he is "real", my choice would be to tell them that he's the "representative of Christmas giving".
| QUOTE |
| If you grind down the universe to its most basic parts, you not find a speck of art, not a molecule of love, not a single atom of justice or mercy, yet these things exist, we experience them all the time. |
You don't have to experience it through being lied to about something's existence only to find out some time later that it was all a parental joke.
samf - December 25, 2005 09:01 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Adolf Chiang @ Dec 25 2005, 02:22 PM) |
| I'd follow the style of parenting I experience and tell my future children that such a man does not exist. People need to be trained into thinking rationally at an early age. |
I don't think that Santa causes children to grow up irrational. The way I see it, children at an early age believe easily, and it gives them a sense of wonder at Christmas. As they grow older and naturally become more rational they gradually learn to figure it out, and then that early wonder is replaced with an understanding of their parents' love for them.
At our house, we went through a period not so long ago when both me and my sister knew it was fake - and our folks knew it - yet the whole household still played along and enjoyed the game. That's the way it should be as you grow older, I think.
| QUOTE |
| The Grinch is related to Yoda, because he's also green. We should all stop hassling the new pope. He was part of the HJ when he was a kid just like many of his contemporaries. Martin Borrmann's son grew up to become a priest and he was strongly against Nazism. |
Uhmm.... Adolf, I wasn't driving at that at all - it was merely an expression thing. Your Nazi preoccupation always surfaces at the worst times.
And back to Santa...
| QUOTE |
| You don't have to experience it through being lied to about something's existence only to find out some time later that it was all a parental joke. |
Most children, I suspect, don't feel cheated at Santa's non-reality but instead gradually figure it out - then both kids and parents are in on the game.
One of my high school teachers objects to an imaginary fat man taking credit for her buying decisions, and so has never done the whole Santa thing. I understand the logic and respect it, but I think it's sad that some children don't grow up sharing in that experience - Santa is a huge part of childrens' lives at Christmas.
He may not exist as a person, but he's no less "real" for being a manifestation of parents' love for their children and a desire to make them happy. And he's also a way for parents to enjoy the miracle of their children believing.
Your children will feel more cheated about never experiencing belief in Santa, than they ever will at realising later in life that he is really an example of your love for them.
mrt - December 26, 2005 02:24 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (samf @ Dec 26 2005, 10:01 AM) |
| He may not exist as a person, but he's no less "real" for being a manifestation of parents' love for their children and a desire to make them happy. And he's also a way for parents to enjoy the miracle of their children believing. Your children will feel more cheated about never experiencing belief in Santa, than they ever will at realising later in life that he is really an example of your love for them. |
Exactly. 100%. Couldn't agree more.
Dr_Steve - December 26, 2005 10:43 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Adolf Chiang @ Dec 25 2005, 01:22 PM) |
| We should all stop hassling the new pope. He was part of the HJ when he was a kid just like many of his contemporaries. Martin Borrmann's son grew up to become a priest and he was strongly against Nazism. |
you're right. There's nothing funny about this image at all.
maniacnymph - December 28, 2005 11:58 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Synopsis @ Dec 25 2005, 07:39 PM) |
| I agree. I like the way the Editor put it. If you grind down the universe to its most basic parts, you not find a speck of art, not a molecule of love, not a single atom of justice or mercy, yet these things exist, we experience them all the time. Santa is the same, he is a concept, an ideal to give children some meaning to the world, and we shouldn't take that away from them. |
woahhhhhh! I like your way of thinking, Synopsis :wub:
Chiang, if this is what you really think, you better stay away from any goon events, because next one i see you at, I am going to .. [Edited Out something about cutting off cock - Yes he is a horrible person, no need to make threats though - Fez]
JPAR - January 5, 2006 12:37 AM (GMT)
Kids get a supreme gift. The gift to really believe in what your imagination tells you. If you're going to 'train' that out of them Chiang, I feel sorry for your spawn.
Miss_Illusioned - January 5, 2006 09:54 AM (GMT)
I don't think I ever felt lied to when I found out he wasn't "real". I defiantely agree with whoever said you would be robbing them of a childhood experience. I mean gosh how many of us here were actually traumatised when we found out Santa wasn't real?
Senor - January 5, 2006 09:58 AM (GMT)
i found out he wasnt real when he popped a boner when i sat on his lap, and when the cops arrested him with excessive force, they battoned his head so hard his shitty fake beard fell off.
samf - January 5, 2006 10:24 AM (GMT)
I heard it from other kids, but wasn't traumatised by it. I think it was kind of amusing by then to know that it was a game all along; both belief and gradual loss of belief in Santa (as a real being) are normal parts of childhood, and I feel my children would be the poorer for not experiencing that.