Magic Vs. Reality Tug-Of-War Results

March 15, 2013 djmatticus12 Comments

Those crazy wonderful folks over at Daily Prompt asked: “The Tooth Fairy (or Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus . . .) : a fun and harmless fiction, or a pointless justification for lying to children?”

I didn’t want to answer right away and then remembered that we have a great resource at our disposal for answering questions like this; so, I brought it up for a Tug-Of-War resolution.

And you played along…

The winner by an absolute avalanche is “fun and harmless fiction.”

The tallies:
fun fiction – 57
pointless lying – 19

Keeping the magic of being a child alive came out of the gates strong and pulled the truth into the mud before it could even start to put up a fight. The truth did try and pull itself out of the mud but never got enough support to manage it. Thus proving that magic trumps truth always and forever.

I’ve known it all along. Magic does exist!

……….

Some of these were very hard to place properly, according to the official counter. They did their best, but if you feel your support went behind the wrong team let us know and we will adjust the numbers accordingly.

As a clarifying example: for those who said they wouldn’t perpetuate these stories to their own children we decided that should count on the Reality side of the tug-of-war despite any other arguments for Magic they had.

Thanks for playing. The shower for those who need to rinse the mud off is just down the hall and to the left. There are plenty of towels.

a daily prompt Tug-Of-War

March 8, 2013 djmatticus30 Comments

Today’s Daily Prompt seemed like a great question to use for the next round of Matticus Kingdom hosted tug-of-wars:

Daily Prompt: Fantasy

by michelle w. on March 8, 2013

The Tooth Fairy (or Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus . . .): a fun and harmless fiction, or a pointless justification for lying to children?

So, here’s the Question for this round of Tug-Of-War:

Is telling your children stories about the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus an Important Part of Childhood/Growing Up or is it Not Important/Lying?

And, here are the Rules:

The rules (because all games must have rules, except Calvinball, of course):
1) Read the prompt. (I know what you are thinking, “Reading, bleh, who wants to do that. But if you don’t read the prompt then you won’t be able to fully play along.” Plus, you’ve already made it this far, which means you’ve probably already read the prompt. Look at you go!)
2) Choose a side. (You have to pick a side in tug-of-war, that’s kind of important.)
3) Write a post that supports your decision or leave your answer as a comment. (We don’t need an essay, and we don’t give bonus points for brevity either. However, we will be your friend if you do something creative.)
4) If you write a post, link back to this post so the moderator can count your support correctly. (Since this is a Daily Prompt, the Matticus Kingdom will also be counting anyone who participates in the prompt and doesn’t link to this post or leave a comment.)
5) There is no fifth rule – just seemed like there needed to be another one – oh, wait, I know: The fifth rule of Matticus Kingdom Tug-of-War is “You do talk about it.” To anyone and everyone. That’d be great.

The winning side will be the one that gets the most support, and their reward will be the knowledge that they chose wisely and eternal fame across the kingdom. Like these people: Eggs.

Which side of the rope are you going to support? Fiction vs. Lying? Imagination Building vs. Silly Stories? Old Tradition vs. Creating Traditions of Your Own? Which side do you want to see splattered and floundering in the mud?

Santa Claus is coming to town

December 20, 2012 djmatticus6 Comments

I live fairly close to a fire station: any time they roll, I can hear them (day or night) heading out to take care of business.

Last night, I heard them roll again and didn’t really think anything of it until it dawned on me that I could still hear them long after the wailing should have come and gone. Plus, the sound was slightly off. I was hearing more of them honking the siren rather than letting it play out completely.

And there were a lot of them.

And they were right outside my front door.

I sprang from my couch (that spawn of evil), and went to my porch to see what all the clatter was about. And there, rolling down my street, with a sleigh, and some reindeer (Rudolph in the lead) was Santa Claus!

There were three fire trucks inching down the road in front of him and three more fire trucks in the rear and they made quite the little procession as they made their way up and down the residential streets of my neighborhood. Music was playing from somewhere, which I was just able to catch in between the siren blasts. Santa was waving.

And, I’m certain, over it all I could just faintly hear him laughing, “Ho Ho Ho Ho…”

Cars started honking as they passed him on the street. The children in my neighboring houses called out to him. Everyone was wishing everyone else a merry Christmas. I went back inside with a smile on my face.

What do you know, there is a little bit of magic left in this world.