I had just come from an office Christmas party. There was a discussion about whether one should tell little children about Santa Claus. Clearly, this co worker, who is a mother to 3 very young children, saw no point of telling her kids about a bearded white man who does not exist. To pretend that he and only he gives out presents to kids is, for her, plain and simple, a lie.

A lie is defined as a false statement with a deliberate intention to deceive. That Santa Claus does not exist is a true statement, and to say otherwise is a false statement. But, were the parents harboring a deliberate intention to deceive?

The young mother to 3 very young children thinks so. And, so do historians and non-Christians, and atheists, and other Christians, like the young mother, who given the chance, would like to put an end to this particular season.

As for me, I know that to make a claim that Santa exists is not a true statement. Yet, I do not see Santa as existing in the material sense of the word. He does exist in the spiritual sense of the word the way my deceased father does. My father has not existed in the material, factual world for more than 2 decades. But, because his children still think of him, relive the memories they had had with him and, more importantly, practice his moral and spiritual values, his presence is felt as though he were physically alive. It is the same with Santa Claus, whose spiritual presence had taught me, when I was young child, and now as middle aged man, the value of giving more than receiving, and the rekindling of the sense of togetherness, and the remembrance of those who are unfortunate.

But, how can we tell our young children about these spiritual values? To them, these values are intangible and abstract. What they need is to see the embodiment of these spiritual values. So, why not tell them the truth about who does the giving?

I don’t have an answer to that. All I can say that when I was a child, Christmas season and Santa Claus was the most exciting, and an extremely magical event. As a child, I loved the festivity, and I cherish many memorable moments I had with my family and Santa Claus, whom I believe to exist because of the gifts that I always find another the Christmas tree. » Read more: I Still Believe In Santa Claus

As long as you have life in yourself, you can fail and then succeed after the failure through persistence. Ultimate success in my opinion and reality comes this way, even when you succeed, there is always something better to do, also my opinion and reality. Failure with future success creates understanding, success the first time through “the luck of the beginner” does not. Only when we competely quit, does weakness and even death really set in, this is not my opinion, this is a reality of life and existence. This is why only the most developed people really succeed. Without that persistence and development, even the best “lucky person” quits somewhere when it gets “too tough”. Why? They do not have the persistence, which is the key skill of anyone who consciously succeeds has as a key factor, sure development counts, but without that persistence, all the intelligent development in existence is nothing.

Development is akin to learned intelligence, and persistence is simply seeing it all through. If you do not have the power to see things through, you cannot live or succeed fully.

Criticism creates power when it creates development and a “success next time” persistence. Only when criticism shuts you down is when you are genuinely destroyed. The worst failure can only destroy you when you let it. This explains why luck and fortune without the understanding of how to repeat the event of success consciously creates failure ultimately, and you have two choices: You can succeed again consciously through logical persistence, or accept the failure and just say “I was lucky” and that is it. The idea that works is the idea that persists until success without matter to what the temporary or seemingly permanent failure is. A successful life is managed this way. A failure of a life gives up even before it really starts. It does not matter how much “good luck” it has at the beginning, and it does not matter what good fortune happens. You could be born a billionaire, and do nothing for your whole life or you could be born poor and become a billionaire through the sort of persistent effort I talk about. So, inborn failure and success are relative and foolishly touted as permanent. I end with a simple quote: “To them that have, more will be given. » Read more: Fail Forward For Something Better After The Failure