A Request for Father Christmas

Dear Father Christmas,

I understand that you are very busy at this time. Fitting as much as you can in your sack in order to fly around the world and provide joy and love to all the children of this world. The problem for me is that not every child is happy. Families are broken and all across the face of the earth, people are crying out in pain.

• The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Christmas is a time for giving and spending time with our families but what about those who are lonely?
• Those who have no family and those who are separated from their families?
• What about those who are unable to afford the Christmas that their children want as they live day by day and sacrifice meals for their children?
• What about those who cannot leave their homes without permission and for those who are stuck inside a hospital?

What about all the pain in the world? It is something that I have been thinking more and more about since the outbreak of the pandemic. That I should stop blaming others for my problems, take responsibility for my life in order to help others. What can I do though?

Against all the strife and suffering in the world, what can I do? I do not have enough money to cure the world and given the sheer amount of those who are crying out, who does?

Only with a consistent, coordinated effort across the globe will we ever make a long-lasting difference. To create a truly equal society when everyone's dignity is respected and the greater good is kept an eye on.

As someone who lives in the United Kingdom, I can attest to seeing homeless people on the streets, health and social care at odds with each other and suffering rearing its ugly head around every turn, but there is hope. The Children's Review, Social Care Plan, SEND Review and hopefully a new Prime Minister before the end of the year. I want to see change. Real change in the sense that people are happy, not in the sense that we all receive millions of pounds, as that will alter the status quo in the short term, but provide little long term relief.

Happiness comes from within, delivered by society and enabled by those around us. This is what I hope for in 2022.

Don't get me wrong, I will appreciate all of the presents under the Christmas tree and do not begrudge anyone from celebrating. The message here is that as a society, as a species, we need to evolve and change our ways, as greed will always hold us back. This is what I want for Christmas, 2022 and the foreseeable future, for the world to look after its neighbours and provide a helping hand to those who are crying out in pain.

Yours Faithfully,

Ben Shelley

A resident of the United Kingdom

P.S. If you have any spare time then please can you deliver some coal to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.