The Good Pirates and the Grinch

I was harvesting articles to read from the New York Times last month when I came across a couple that really threw me into the Christmas spirit — first in a negative way, with ire and bile — but then in a most enjoyable way with the spotlight on my favorite part of the season: giving. Let's get the nastiness over with first, shall we. In "A City Ban Changes the Christmas Scene" (11/19/2012), Ian Lovett reported that after six decades of Nativity scenes in Santa Monica’s Palisades Park, they are gone. A series of 14 Nativity scenes had been in the park since the '50s. But in recent years, Damon "The Grinch" Vix, a local atheist, started objecting to the religious scenes’ presence on public property and put up his own signs in the park with messages like “Religions are all alike — founded upon fables and mythologies,” a quotation from Thomas Jefferson. (Please note that John has nothing against atheists, just like he has nothing against those PETA people, as long as they mind their OWN business - and stay out of his.) Last year, Vix kicked it up a notch and got fellow atheists to apply for a bunch of spaces in the park to set up displays — and that crowded out the Nativity scenes. There was national attention, vandalism to the Vix displays, political pandemonium, and in June, the Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously to ban all unattended private displays from city parks. Per the story, Vix said, “I think the ban has been a good thing for the city. Any time there is an intrusion of religion in government, that’s a bad thing.” Well, everybody has the right to their opinion in this great country, but I believe we have a little thing known as freedom of religion, too. And I think that freedom will inspire the Nativity folk to rally back against Vix and his spirit crushers. That will be my Christmas wish. And now, here's a good story, made even better because it's about giving, and made even better YET because it's about $1 coins and PIRATES! (I loves me pirates!) In the November 19 story "Buried Treasure, Unburied for a Greater Good," reporter James Barron opened with: "In an adventure about buried treasure (real), pirates (made up) and clues (too complicated, it turned out), the temptation is to talk like a matey and tell the world: The cap'n says to quit yer foolish searching because the booty's not there now. The laddies who put it in the ground dug it up and gave it away." And that is the gist of it. It seems that back in 2009, two Brooklyn guys, Vincent Bova and Damien Eckhardt-Jacobi, hid a chest filled with 10,000 one-dollar coins (See, Joe Biden! SOMEBODY is using these coins!) and released eight videos featuring creatures playing pirates who dropped hints about where the loot was, per the story. And the best part? Finders keepers!!! (They wanted to promote their business.) Long story short, some searchers were warm, none got hot, and then came Hurricane Sandy. Messrs. Bova and Eckhardt-Jacobi decided to dig the money up and give it to a good cause — Lava Girl Surf, a surfing school that had turned into a relief group. And here's how Mr. Barron closed his story: "Mr. Bova described his initial call to Davina Greene of Lava Girl Surf. 'I said I want to talk about a donation, but it's kind of bizarre,' he said. "He mentioned $10,000. She told him she was going to cry. "Then he mentioned pirates and said, 'It's a treasure chest bursting with coins.' 'She started laughing hysterically,' Mr. Bova said." Take THAT, Grinch Demon Vix! There is still good in this world, and it will take better than you to stop it.