“The myth of Kris Kringle must die. And this must be our Last Noel.”

— the following op-ed ran in the final issue of the Tribune-Investigator-Times-Sun.

The Truth Will Set You Free

By Wyatt Duvall

Washington could not tell a lie. Honest Abe was always honest. And when Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, he wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

Today, I write to you speaking an undeniable truth: Santa Claus is a lie, a lie we must stop telling.

For our children, for our future, for the very principles upon which this nation was founded, we the people must address this lie. We must rewrite this fiction. We must tell our children once and for all that Santa Claus does not exist.

There is no team of eight reindeer.

There is no naughty and nice list.

There is no North Pole.

They are the creations of marketers and manipulators and malcontents. The core of their existence is to deceive.

When we tell our children that smoking is dangerous, we want them to believe us.

When we tell our children that drugs and alcohol are dangerous, we want them to believe us.

When we tell our children that their college applications must be peppered with extracurricular activities, we want them to believe us.

But what happens when a child learns that Santa Claus is a lie, one that has been told to them by their parents for their entire lives? What happens when that child discovers that the word of his or her parents is worthless? Who can they ever trust again? No one.

That distrust begins at home, and it spreads into the community.

We are all in danger.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we throw away our Christmas trees. I’m not asking that we pack up our stockings for good. I’m not asking that we turn off the Christmas lights forever. We can keep Santa in Christmas, but we must not let our children live a lie.

The myth of Kris Kringle must die. And this must be our Last Noel.

The men and women of Last Noel understand that we cannot rely upon parents to solve this problem. We cannot rely upon our educators. We cannot rely upon the state. It is time that we must take matters into our own hands. It takes a village to deceive our children, but a single individual can undo all of the harm.

Which is why we have posted footage of the Dec. 3 march at the Northwoods Mall on YouTube. It’s why we have set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account. It’s why we have dropped off leaflets at Frankie’s Fun Park, Chuckie Cheese, and McDonalds. They are our messengers.

And through them the children will learn the truth and the truth will set them free.