Professionally, Iām a retired professor of accounting and former chair of the School of Accounting at the University of South Carolinaās Moore School of Business. My academic work explored how people make decisions in complex systems, especially when information is imperfect or overwhelming. Iāve published in a fair number of journals that few people read voluntarily, and I spent decades thinking about how technology shapes human behavior.
These days, my time is divided between managing a small flock of chickens, herding goats, chatting on amateur radio (KO4LMP), and living just on the edge of the gridāliterally and metaphorically. Iām a father to five daughters, a grandfather to 17, and a great-grandfather to three. Somewhere along the way, I realized that what I enjoy most is simply talking about the world we live ināand how to make sense of it.
Parents, grandparents, and communitiesĀ chooseĀ to become Santa every year
Acts of giving happen anonymously, joyfully, and without expecting anything back
Kids experience wonder, generosity, and surpriseāthose feelings are 100% real
In that sense, Santa exists wherever people decide to give quietly and kindly.
š In a literal senseā¦
There isnāt a single magical man with flying reindeer squeezing down millions of chimneys in one night. The logistics alone would give even an AI pause š
ā¤ļø The deeper truth
Santa is a shared story that teaches:
Giving without credit
Believing in goodness before proof
Trusting that someone out there cares enough to show up
Many adults eventually realize something important:
Santa didnāt disappear ā they became him.
If youāre asking this because of a child, I can help you phrase an age-perfect answer. If youāre asking as an adultā¦ well ā you already know how much real magic lives inside shared kindness āØ
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