Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 21 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Santa Claus and his millions of helpers
— From Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs
Happy holidays!!
Today is Christmas Eve: the evening in which Santa Claus delivers millions of presents to the kids all around the world.
And today’s post is dedicated—with a BIG and heartfelt thanks—to all of the millions of helpers that make this incredible feat of happiness and toyness happen year after year.
In his book Thanks a Thousand, gratitude guru and best-selling author A.J. Jacobs went halfway around the world thanking everyone who made his morning cup of coffee possible. Along the way, he met Ed Kaufmann, head of buying at Joe Coffee (where Jacobs purchases his coffee every morning).
Jacobs recalls the conversation with Kaufmann, as the latter was surprised to hear that the author would be writing about him. “It’s kind of odd that you’re featuring me in your book,” Kaufmann said. “I’m usually more of a background guy. I’m a bassist.”
In his spare time, Kaufmann plays bass guitar in a rock band, so he meant that literally and figuratively: “I like being the bassist… Everyone wants to be the lead guitarist or lead singer, and we need those. But we also need bassists. I’m necessary, but I’m background.”
This concept struck the author and prompted him to dive deeply into it. Jacobs says, “In our society, we fetishize the lead singers. And not just in music. The front people in every field—art, engineering, sports, food—get way too much attention. The cult of celebrity has spread into every corner. We overemphasize individual achievement when, in fact, almost everything good in the world is the result of teamwork.”
And I would add to this that sometimes—as was the case in the book—some team members don’t know of each other’s existence. For example, the designer of the coffee cup lid, possibly didn’t know of the existence of the pest control people who make sure that the bags of coffee are not infested by moths in the warehouse; and these folks, in turn, had no clue about the existence of the people at the water reservoir who pick up animal droppings to prevent water contamination so that the water can be safely used in making coffee.
Yet, for those that do know who is in their team but fail to thank and acknowledge, psychologists have coined the term responsibility bias. Jacobs points out that, “For one thing, it causes a lot of pain and resentment among the billions of unacknowledged bass players in our world. But its long-term consequences might be even worse. By elevating individual achievement over cooperation, we’re creating a glut of wannabe superstars who don’t have time for collaboration. We desperately need more bassists in the world… The idea of the lone (person achieving success on his or her own) warps reality.”
And that is why I don’t want to warp reality and, instead, I want to thank ALL of you who help Santa Claus year after year. Millions of kids rejoice because of you. While Santa is indeed the lead singer, and his elves and reindeer are the lead guitarists, the rest of you are the bassists who help make it happen.
We would need Jacobs to write another book to figure out all the ways in which people help Santa Claus all over the world, but from:
- The farmers who take care of the cows that produce the milk in the glass left for Santa
- To the cookie makers whose cookies are left in a plate for Santa next to the milk above
- To the schoolteachers who teach and help kids how to write a letter
- To the paper mills that produce the paper in which the letters are written
- To the postal service with Operation Santa
- To the employees at Google who bring us the awesome Santa’s Village and the Santa Tracker
- To the camera makers for making memories of opening the gifts on Christmas Day…
Every one of us plays a role, especially, the parents: thanks for taking care and raising good kids so that Santa can bring them gifts at the end of the year. The world is a beautiful and better place because of all that you do for your children.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for making this beautiful tradition happen. 🙂
A very merry Christmas to you and yours with much love and gratitude!
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the enormity of the effort—individual and collective—that represents bringing toys to all children in the world… No wonder there are so many big and small roles that people play to make this happen! Santa indeed has millions of helpers.
FUTURE: As you gather with your family to enjoy Santa’s gifts tomorrow, play the gratitude competition that A.J. Jacobs plays with his family (see Today’s Action here). In this case, modify it to suit Christmas and Santa Claus: think of the most obscure and furthest-removed role that you can think of in terms of helping Santa Claus. How about the mill workers who produce steel to make the nuts and bolts that hold together the sleigh? Or how about the rig workers in the North Sea who drill for oil which is then used to make the synthetic hair on a doll? Or the cotton farmer whose fabric was used for Santa’s clothes? You can spend hours having fun and being grateful! And for more on gratitude check out the series of videos where I interview A.J. Jacobs.
Please help me spread the holiday cheer by sharing this post with other Santa’s helpers via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!