MJ's "Epiphany"

    This is about MJ’s epiphany. MJ is my 7-year old nephew, a second grader in one of the public schools somewhere in Queens. I guess he is at that age when “reason” often intrudes upon the child’s imagination, often challenging his imaginary universe. Like most of his peers, MJ is an ardent believer in Santa Claus, complete with flowing white beard, red suit, his paunch, his reindeer (including the red-nosed one), the workshop of toys (including the latest Playstation,  Xbox, etc.) whose headquarters are based in the North Pole (and please, only there and nowhere else!).

    Three years ago, in late autumn, MJ came home from day school. On the verge of tears, his voice trembling, in the pure sadness that only a child who has lost a favorite toy could feel, he told his parents, “One of my classmates said that Santa is not real!” My brother and his wife were hard put explaining to their only child the “reality” of Santa Claus without unduly hurting MJ’s feelings about his classmate’s “lie.”

    I guess that that experience was a turning point in MJ’s mental geography and his imagination of the universe - a teachable moment, I’d say. From then on, around Christmas,  MJ would ask his parents, if there really was “truth” to Santa Claus. A single and unmarried adult, I guess that explaining Santa’s “reality” (as opposed to his “truth”) could count among parenthood’s challenges. For MJ’s parents, however, an unexpected “opening” presented itself a few days after this past Christmas. A bit flustered, almost out of breath, MJ asked his parents if Santa could be real if he was not from the North Pole. “Because,” he said, turning his Christmas toy upside down,  “look, it says here, ‘Made in China’! ”