Wish List

Dear Santa,

My wish list for 2010 is long. And I don't think you, even with all your magic, can give me the things I want. But oh, I will continue to hope. And ask with fervor.

Dear Santa, will you give us world peace this year? I'm talking about serious world peace. The kind where neighbors don't call the police on neighbors because of a junky car on the lawn. A world where sisters don't yell at each other. A world where political differences don't cause people to call names. Where people with religious differences walk by each other each day and nod, or even smile, despite their disagreements. A place where guns are not used, not even around. Where kids don't grow up hearing gun shots down the street. A world where tanks don't roll by a family's house every day, with soldiers holding weapons. A place where tribes help each other instead of fight with each other. A place where angry drivers just tap the brakes and back up a little. A world where young girls and boys don't have to join gangs to feel like they have family. Where movies, games, tv shows don't glamorize war and fighting, killing and dying. Where children and spouses aren't abused. A world where we don't have to fear for our children when they walk to school, and where children don't have to be scared to go home. Where home is the safest place you could be. Where problems are solved using actual solutions, not violence.

Dear Santa, will you teach us how to look at people with love and mercy? If people have a harsh or critical word for someone around them, will you help them to see that persons circumstances and background? Will you help us to not judge others based on our own experiences, but rather take a step into their shoes? Will you help us create a world where people are celebrated because of our differences rather than criticized or judged? Will you show us how to empathize? Will you take away our pedestals? Doesn't that sound like a gift, Santa?

And dear Santa, will you put an end to hunger and homelessness around the world? Will mothers and fathers who work three jobs to live be able to pay for both the heating bill and the groceries? Will parents who work through the night also be able to go to open house at their children's schools? When a man loses his job, will he be able to stay in his home rather than find a shelter? Will people with mental issues and addictions be able to find true help so they don't have to huddle under cardboard? Will you make it so every family can be together on Christmas day? Will you fill every pantry in every country with goods for meals and snacks so little boys and girls will grow up strong and healthy? Will you provide tools for hunting and gathering and make crops grow plentiful? Will you give every school enough for books, paper, pencils, desks and teachers? Will you give every hospital enough equipment, medicine, beds and doctors? When people are sick, will you help them get the medicine they need to get better? Will you help the rich countries figure out how to help the poor countries with clean drinking water? Doesn't that sound like a wonderful world, Santa?

And oh Santa dear, it would be nice to live in a world where respect and admiration are given to teachers, grandpas and grandmas, nurses, librarians, trash collectors and lawn mowers. To delivery drivers and grocery stockers and laborers. Instead of looking up to athletes to drink and drive and beat their wives, instead of wanting to be like celebrities who throw away money and treat others poorly. Maybe you could arrange it so the paychecks of all these people make more sense, too. A world where wages are fair. Don't you think that sounds nice, Santa?

Santa, will you help women who want children have them? Will you find homes for children who need them? Will you teach us how to love, so that every single person on earth feels filled with love? Will you give us an understanding of how to respect Earth, animals and others? Will you teach us how to take care of not only our things, but the things that grow around us, the animals that live near us, the people across the street? Basically, will you give us all the gift of selflessness?

I guess some people might say I'm asking too much. For a perfect world. But you don't think so, do you, Santa? Nah, I don't think so either.

Thanks, Santa.
Love,
Terri Lynn