I recently listened to a podcast that told me to rekindle my greatest passions from the age of five. When I was a kid of that age, I believed in Christmas Elves to the point of obsession. I thought frequently about not just being on the nice list but being ranked as one of the nicest in the world. My mother was elaborate at note writing so I was convinced that if I were the nicest, I would be paired with a Reindeer. The specifics of that are hazy, that’s fine. The point is Elves and right action were very important to me. The elf in our house was invisible and was reporting to Santa.
My children have grown up to the corporate era of Elf on a Shelf. Their kindergarten teacher foisted upon them the Elf on a Shelf dogma without my consent and then they felt inferior at home, demanding we also needed a Elf on a Shelf or we were outcasts. Other kids had them. We got one and then we got two when we lost one. Buy the Elf or shatter the enthusiasm, it’s already captured your children’s minds. Backtracking could be impossible, they have been indoctrinated.
I see these Elves on Shelves as double agents. They come with corporate ethics. They have a price tag and they are not invisible. I can FEEL the OTHER in these elves. When I had an elf untethered by branding I had a direct connection and one day I actually saw my elf, which looked like a real person, in a closet. This encounter did terrify me and my parents quickly regretted and wondered if this elf thing had not gone too far, which I suppose it had, but it went too far in my own mind. I saw the Elf, the Elf that was supposed to not exist.
My children will never see the invisible Elf. Their elf is made of cheap felt and somehow represents the invisible elf I actually saw. The fewer things that we dream, the fewer things we will into reality.
The more cheap representations of autonomy we settle for, the fewer encounters with it we have.
This holiday I ask you to think of one idol to cut ties with so that you can encounter the real, terrifying, imaginary. If you can’t cut ties at least acknowledge that their imagination has actually hijacked your own.
"The more cheap representations of autonomy we settle for, the fewer encounters with it we have."
Amen and Dang what a hell of a sentence. One for the ages.
awesome viewpoint of how we are lead by the nose from the MUST BUY crap... Too bad not everyone writes as good notes as me.
But I do have to admit it IS FUNNY when you set the cheap felt elf hanging from the ceiling and saying hi to the kids in the morning. And not too scary either...