Since the Missus and I purchased our little piece of Paradise by the Sea in 2015, I have subscribed on-line to The Coast Star. It is a weekly paper, which hits newsstands and e-mail in-boxes alike on Thursday. It is quite an excellent little newspaper, doing a reasonably deep dive into the day-to-day issues afoot in southern Monmouth County (Bradley Beach, Ocean Grove, Avon-by-the-Sea, Belmar, Wall Township, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, Sea Girt, Manasquan, and Lake Como). My annual subscription costs me less than $40.00 and helps me keep up with what is happening at the shore all year-round.
As Christmas approaches, the Coast Star is replete on a week-in, week-out basis with "Letters to Santa", authored by little kids (generally speaking kindergarten to 3rd grade) who are students at the area's various elementary schools. A number of the letters are what I suppose you might expect from a small child, which is a recitation of the "must-have" treasures on her of his Christmas list. Truthfully, however, when I read them I am impressed by their depth, their substance, and their candor. In this week's edition of the paper (December 3, 2020), among the classes whose letters were published were first graders from West Belmar Elementary School, and included this treasure (note the lad's name):
Dear Santa:
How many toys do elves make? I want 100 Hot Wheels cars
and a Lego Death Star. I've been trying to be good.
Love,
Adam
Young Adam did not add emphasize the final sentence in his note. Old, gray-beard Adam did. I just love his frank assessment of his own behavior. He's been trying to be good but someone else, St. Nick himself perhaps, will be the final arbiter of whether he has attained his goal.
Third-grade students from Ms. Kuczko's class at Wall Township's Allenwood Elementary School had their letters to Santa published week too and included among them was one that, after reading it, I had to remind myself was the work of a third grader:
Dear Santa:
For Christmas, I would like a Razor edge dirt bike.
I have been a good big brother, a true friend to all and a kind person.
For my sister, who's been through a hard time,
it would be nice for her to get a play ATM machine for Christmas.
She has been brave through a scary time!
She's sweet like candy and deserves happiness.
Thank you Santa for reading my note.
How cold is it in the North Pole?
Love,
Jackson
"She's sweet like candy and deserves happiness". Young Jackson reinforces my belief that children represent the best part of humanity. We, the adults who occupy this planet have much to learn from them.
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