Teacher, don't lie to me, tell me the truth
Today, December 23rd, it is appropriate to remember a beautiful and distressing experience I lived years ago when I worked as a school librarian, this anecdote has to do with the long awaited Christmas gift and with the illusions of children, this is a real Christmas story.
The work day began normally, the whole school was decorated with allusion to Christmas and the children had already prepared their letters to the baby Jesus who is the one who brings the gifts on Christmas Eve and leaves them at the foot of the Christmas tree in my country, this character does the same job as Santa Claus with the difference that he is a newborn child and has no helpers hahaha, each child must write a letter with their wishes asking for gifts and put it on the tree days before December 24 this letter disappears and the answer comes in the form of a gift.
That day at work I had to give class to several groups among them were third graders, aged between 8 and 10 years, before starting the class I was approached by a girl accompanied by two boys and told me with a tone of anger and concern, "teacher we want to ask you a very important question, but we want you to tell us the truth, but we want you to tell us the truth" this girl was the leader of the group, a good student, very intelligent and astute, I had no idea what the question was going to be, I told them that we should sit outside the classroom in the courtyard with the cool breeze to talk because I felt a tense atmosphere in the children.
We took the benches out to the patio around a desaman tree and the whole group arrived, about 30 students, I greeted them and asked this girl what she wanted to tell me, she stood up and said: "Teacher we trust you, we love you very much and we know that you are not going to deceive us, we are all confused and we want to know if the Baby Jesus exists or not".
She said again with a strong voice and got close enough to look me in the eyes: "Tell me the truth, does the baby Jesus exist?
I don't know what color my face turned, I imagine I turned pale because I felt my legs faint and I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me, those seconds were eternal, I looked at the children and they had their eyes fixed on me, everything went in slow motion and there was a terrifying silence, I froze, a thousand things went through my mind, what should I do, I thought of all the scenarios in fractions of a second.
First I was surprised that this girl and some of her group, being so tremendous and intelligent, still had the innocence of the illusion about the baby Jesus intact, in these times with so much technology at their reach they were still innocent children, I found out when I was 5 years old because out of malice and to make fun of me some strange children told me so I decided to find out the truth and it hurt me, then for me it was a surprise that my students did not know who is behind the baby Jesus.
Then I reflected on who am I to break that illusion, I do not want to cause them harm and it is not something I should tell them, but I did not want to lie to them, especially after so much confidence they had in me.
The group was already revolted, they felt anxious and annoyed, if I tell them the truth the next day my head would roll, more than one parent would come looking for me to reproach me and even my job would be in danger. I felt between a rock and a hard place, what should I do as I told them, I thought of everything in seconds, took a deep breath and said a prayer to God, I remember I said: God give me wisdom to answer this question, and immediately I began to talk to them.
It occurred to me to tell them that the baby Jesus visits some houses and not others, it all depends on the beliefs of their families and the country they are in, when I told them this I observed that some were with their mouths open and others looked at me with suspicion, I continued explaining that children who are Christians of the Catholic religion receive gifts from the baby Jesus, those who are Jehovah's Witnesses receive Christmas gifts from their parents, I also mentioned that those who live in the United States are given Santa Claus.
I started to hear expressions of ahhh, sure, I get it.
When I finished the girl who asked me the question ran and hugged me tightly thanking me 💔, at the same time she turned and shouted to two male classmates: "You have seen that it exists! And the children kept looking at me with their eyes half closed with distrust, ha ha ha, I know they thought the teacher was a liar.
After most of the children began to celebrate peacefully that the baby Jesus somehow does exist and that's why some receive gifts and others don't, I approached those who knew the truth and hugged them without crossing words. It was the most difficult question I have ever been asked in my life, I don't have children and if I did I wouldn't know what to do, whether to continue with the tradition of making them believe that the baby Jesus exists or to be completely sincere and take away that illusion.