December 12, 2015 10.58 am This story is over 99 months old

My letter to Santa

The modern world dilemma: “I am afraid. This time, it really is a case of ‘the children, won’t somebody please think of the children!’”

Dear Father Christmas,

I am afraid. This time, it really is a case of ‘the children, won’t somebody please think of the children!’ I live in a country that decided to bomb countless innocent children and their families alike in ‘retaliation’ of the countless innocent lives taken. Acceptable collateral is a term used to blind us, but all it does is poke me sharply in the eye.

This week I have seen people ‘point out’ that Calais is not full of families but young, single men. Perhaps I’ve had my head screwed on backwards but I was fairly certain their lives matter, too? What have we become when we play God so liberally, only to bash others for following another?

We are blessed with different views, but when so many take the vitriol of Donald Trump with a nod of the head or a growl of praise, well…what then? There have been plenty of comparisons to Hitler over the past week, but is it merely a piece of comedic writing?

Denying freedom of speech (closing down the internet), freedom of movement (banning certain ethnicities and religious denominations from entering or exiting the USA) not to mention breaking, nay, burning, the constitution the far right cling so dearly to. That, well, that doesn’t sound very amusing to me.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Truer words have never been spoken, well, not for what I’m writing. People are being shot because there aren’t enough guns. You heard me, more lethal weapons means fewer fatalities. What is this madness? The sheer insanity is spreading like cancer and the only thing we can do is stand up to the malformed cells that instigate the hatred.

There have always been men willing to raise hell off of the back of fear, and there have always been those that will blindly follow. I do not blame the latter though they mostly remain a mystery to me. The commies that want peace, how pathetic of them.

There has been a ‘ban Trump from the UK’ petition going on, and doing very, very well. This I disagree with too. It seems everyone is fighting fire with fire, even the best of us. What else do we have left though? Well, I’m still a firm believer in the pen being mightier than the sword, or, at least, the hand that presses the H-bomb release button.

Santa I have two small children, and I do not know how to explain the hatred and fear. I tell them that sometimes it’s easy to get confused, but if you always remember kindness comes first, you won’t go far wrong. Is this just lip service?

How long until we become what we fought so hard to keep at bay? How far will we go before realising that if we want to continue our existence on this little planet of ours, we need to stop.hurting.others – or we’ll all be hiding in fridges whilst the news tells us to keep calm as the bombs drop.

Are the decision makers sending in the fighter jets based on fear though? That’s where I get really confused, what do we get out of this?

So I guess what I’d like Santa, if it’s at all possible, is a little national perspective. If you can spare any for America that’d be greatly appreciated. Is there a ghost of wars past you could muster up for number 10?

Avatar photo

Kate Taylor is a sociologist, mother and tea and cake lover. When not working in sociological and marketing research with her company, Galilee Research, Kate can be found talking about political philosophy on the school run.