Think back to holidays when you were a kid. If you grew up celebrating Christmas, how did you feel about Santa? Was he this cool guy who showed up once a year with presents, or did you end up crying at the mall when your aunties tried to get you to sit on his lap for a photo?
There's more than one right answer, of course. Maybe one year you're cool, and the next year you're not on speaking terms. It happens.
Would your point of view have changed if Santa pulled up to greet you on a personal watercraft, though? That's what I'm wondering, seeing him zoom up to greet the eager families waiting on the shore in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Growing up in Chicago, that would have made zero sense. In the video we see here, it's about 27 degrees Celsius (or 80-ish degrees Fahrenheit), so a PWC is a no-brainer. But as an example, while I'm writing this, it's about 1.1 degrees Celsius or about 34-ish degrees Fahrenheit. You and me, we're not the same.
Santa on a sleigh or a snowmobile makes sense in Chicago, but Santa on a PWC makes so much more sense in Rio. In both cases, though, it's about the merry old guy bringing joy and good cheer to the kids, right? Right.
And in this specific case, it was an initiative by local firefighters to bring gifts to needy kids in the area. Speaking as someone who was one of those area kids a long time ago, who got some pink and purple ponies out of the deal that she played with for a good long time afterward, I can say it's entirely likely that those kids will remember this day better than you might expect.
That's really the best thing about this time of year. Not the gifts, but the small acts of kindness that are usually in abundance right now. You never know when a small gesture of kindness will make a difference in someone's bad day/week/month/year.
Even in trying times, we can change things around us for the better. That's true whether we're Santa on a PWC or a sleigh or we're just holding the door open for someone who's having a tough time with it. Sometimes, it's the small acts of kindness that matter most, and we'd do well to remember that.
Happy holidays, wherever you are, and whatever you ride. And wherever you are, stay kind.
