On A Day Like Today

On a day like today the city of Halifax was almost entirely obliterated by the biggest exlosion the world had ever witnessed at the time – 100 years ago. I have posted about the Halifax explosion previously and you can read the posting here. On a day like this, December 6, decades ago I was racing from my room to the windows of my parent’s house to check on my shoes, I had placed there the evening before. Yes, it was Saint Nikolaus Day, and the custom for little kids at the time was awaiting the morning of December 6 with the greatest excitement and anticipation, for during the night, Saint Nikolaus would have placed chocolate candy in the shoes placed on the window sill. Our parents made sure that my brother and me were never disappointed. We truly believed in Saint Nikolaus and Santa Claus. It was magic and it put a cloak of secrecy and wonder on our lifes. I don’t remember when facts of reality started to sink into my mind. I think it happened before I was 10 years old. I sure wonder whether there are still kids out there growing up in such strong beliefs. If we allow ourselves to scan back into our own past we will discover things we thought we had forgotten. And good people will reflect upon it and draw the right conclusions. Conclusions of value for the future. And hopefully, it will lead us to discard a lot of the commercialism we are surrounded with today.