The Elf report
In the United States it is nearly time for the Elf or the Mensch report. The elf did not mature enough to take up his or her post in the United States until Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell teamed up with illustrator Coë Steinwart and published the book The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition in 2005. In 20011 a Jewish counterpart was designed by Benjamin
Goober Elkins “Mensch on a Bench” which is a stuffed toy created to look like a rabi or Hasidic Jew. The Mensch became a team mascot for Team Israel in 2017.
The Mensch is not as well known or perhaps not as attention seeking as the elf, but both represent integrity or what is best within us. The elf has been officially charged with the responsibility for tracking the behavior of the children in the family and, thus, determining who is worthy of pre-diamond coal or diamonds. All children know, however, that the real duty of the Elf or the Mensch is to track the behavior of the parents. The parents have in past years wisely insisted on leaving the elfs home under the guise of checking the rooms of the children to determine if indeed they might uncover less obvious misbehavior.
The actual truth was and is, of course, that the adults were determined to sabotage the intended mission of the elfs and the Mensch – to monitor the behavior of parents. Yet, the behavior of us adults was all too obvious. Whether in august offices of the congress, the prestigious law firms, the executives of various media organizations, the sales departments of the pharmaceutical companies, the so-called halls of justice or the halls of the labor unions it seems as if we adults have forgotten when we knew perfectly well as children – how to play nice. Playing nice did not mean we were always nice but, for the most part, we knew that we needed each other and even after a very hurtful argument would directly or indirectly apologize and resume playing nice. With play we might become a scientist who finds a way to avoid getting cancer, a homemaker raising children, a beloved teacher who actually encouraged drawing outside the lines, or a doctor who knew his or her most important tool was the part of the brain which “heard” and “saw”. It seems we adults need the elf who is at heart very much a child to report on our actual behavior. For 2020, in the world of art (music, painting, dance, sculptures, writing such as fiction and poetry) we get an A+. The scientists developing a test of covid-19, those finding and creating a vaccine, non-profits serving those who need a helping hand, and small business which did all they could to keep individuals employed, postal workers and other delivery people all get an A+.
Many of us fell into the trap of focusing on negatives or were kidnapped by addiction to money, sex, drugs (including alcohol), power and things. We became part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
All in all, the elf and the Mensch both report that 2020 has revealed us to have revealed our worst and our best. Most of us do not need the billions of pages of the elf or Mensch report to know what is our best and what is our worst behavior of 2020. We know that which separated us, rank ordered us or treated some as less than is our worst. That which brough us together, lifted each other up, and treated all as equal is our best.
Written December 24, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
The Elf report
In the United States it is nearly time for the Elf or the Mensch report. The elf did not mature enough to take up his or her post in the United States until Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell teamed up with illustrator Coë Steinwart and published the book The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition in 2005. In 20011 a Jewish counterpart was designed by Benjamin
Goober Elkins “Mensch on a Bench” which is a stuffed toy created to look like a rabi or Hasidic Jew. The Mensch became a team mascot for Team Israel in 2017.
The Mensch is not as well known or perhaps not as attention seeking as the elf, but both represent integrity or what is best within us. The elf has been officially charged with the responsibility for tracking the behavior of the children in the family and, thus, determining who is worthy of pre-diamond coal or diamonds. All children know, however, that the real duty of the Elf or the Mensch is to track the behavior of the parents. The parents have in past years wisely insisted on leaving the elfs home under the guise of checking the rooms of the children to determine if indeed they might uncover less obvious misbehavior.
The actual truth was and is, of course, that the adults were determined to sabotage the intended mission of the elfs and the Mensch – to monitor the behavior of parents. Yet, the behavior of us adults was all too obvious. Whether in august offices of the congress, the prestigious law firms, the executives of various media organizations, the sales departments of the pharmaceutical companies, the so-called halls of justice or the halls of the labor unions it seems as if we adults have forgotten when we knew perfectly well as children – how to play nice. Playing nice did not mean we were always nice but, for the most part, we knew that we needed each other and even after a very hurtful argument would directly or indirectly apologize and resume playing nice. With play we might become a scientist who finds a way to avoid getting cancer, a homemaker raising children, a beloved teacher who actually encouraged drawing outside the lines, or a doctor who knew his or her most important tool was the part of the brain which “heard” and “saw”. It seems we adults need the elf who is at heart very much a child to report on our actual behavior. For 2020, in the world of art (music, painting, dance, sculptures, writing such as fiction and poetry) we get an A+. The scientists developing a test of covid-19, those finding and creating a vaccine, non-profits serving those who need a helping hand, and small business which did all they could to keep individuals employed, postal workers and other delivery people all get an A+.
Many of us fell into the trap of focusing on negatives or were kidnapped by addiction to money, sex, drugs (including alcohol), power and things. We became part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
All in all, the elf and the Mensch both report that 2020 has revealed us to have revealed our worst and our best. Most of us do not need the billions of pages of the elf or Mensch report to know what is our best and what is our worst behavior of 2020. We know that which separated us, rank ordered us or treated some as less than is our worst. That which brough us together, lifted each other up, and treated all as equal is our best.
Written December 24, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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