Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer concept is by Adam Yee, available via Shutterstock

Jerry Foxhoven is an attorney, child advocate, former law professor, and former director of the Iowa Department of Human Services.

It’s time I admit it publicly: I’m “woke.”

One of my favorite contemporary writers is pastor and author John Pavlovitz. He reminds us often that “Jesus was woke.” He observes that Republicans/Evangelicals like to refer to the Bible a lot but rarely bring up Jesus. Here is what Pavlovitz says about that:

This isn’t an oversight, it’s a necessity. There’s a simple reason for the omission: they can’t gaslight us with the words of Jesus. […]

They can’t make him say what they want him to say or get him to consent to their brutal wills—so they’ve simply erased him.

The Sermon on the Mount, his central treatise, is antithetical to the Republican ethos.

Merriam-Webster defines “woke” as: “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” Okay, I guess (and hope) that’s me.

So, now that we have clarified who I am, let me talk about a view of a Christmas Classic story/song (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) that fits with my “wokeness.” Let’s look at the story with a “woke” lens.

Rudolph is “different” because he has a shiny nose—“you might even say it glows.” (By way of analogy, consider if the “difference” were race, ethnicity, gender identity, or a physical/mental challenge). 

But look at what the story tells us about how we treat people who are different from us. Rudolph’s own family is ashamed of him and wants him to cover up his differentness. At school, he is bullied and shunned. The other students won’t even let him “join in any reindeer games.” Even the substitute for government in the story (Santa Claus) treats him horribly—banning him from serving as part of his “team.”

That’s until everyone finds that they can use Rudolph for their own advantage. On one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa is considering that Christmas may have to be cancelled because he can’t see well enough to deliver presents. Rudolph to the rescue! Now, his differentness allows him to be a value to everyone, and he is accepted with great joy.

If I were a pessimist, I would say that this story tells of the inherent prejudice of society and government. Unless the “different” individual can be used, they are of no value to anyone, much less society. They are outcast. Maybe it’s a criticism of capitalism. 

In any event, I am, fortunately, an unabashed optimist. I see the message as: if we see someone’s difference as a strength, all of us can be better because of that difference. Let’s celebrate our differences. (Sorry, Governor Reynolds, mine is a diversity/inclusion version, and I would guess you would prefer the pessimistic explanation.)

There is a children’s picture book with a Mr. and Mrs. Fox who say, “We’re all a little different, but there is something kind of fantastic about that, isn’t there?” I won’t name the book for fear that Moms for Liberty might try to ban it from our school libraries.

Something is missing from the classic Christmas story, though. Nobody says anything about, or apologizes for, how badly they treated Rudolph. Republicans might say we shouldn’t talk about that because it would make the other kids, his parents, and even Santa uncomfortable to think about their own poor treatment of Rudolph. So, that part is left out of the narrative.

But how can anyone learn from their own mistakes if they aren’t supposed to hear about their bad conduct? And what about Rudolph? Doesn’t he deserve some kind of closure? 

This reminds me of a story a Native friend of mine told me about why he was offended by sports teams using Indian mascots:

A white man and a Native elder became pretty good friends, so the white guy decided to ask him: “What do you think about Indian mascots?”

The Native elder responded, “Here’s what you’ve got to understand. When you look at black people, you see ghosts of all the slavery and the rapes and the hangings and the chains. When you look at Jewish people, you see ghosts of all those bodies piled up in death camps. And those ghosts keep you trying to do the right thing.

“But when you look at us you don’t see the ghosts of the little babies with their heads smashed in by rifle butts at the Big Hole, or the old folks dying by the side of the trail on the way to Oklahoma while their families cried and tried to make them comfortable, or the dead mothers at Wounded Knee or the little kids at Sand Creek who were shot for target practice. You don’t see any ghosts at all.

“Instead, you see casinos and drunks and junk cars and shacks.

“Well, we see those ghosts. And they make our hearts sad, and they hurt our little children. And when we try to say something, you tell us, ‘Get over it. This is America. Look at the American dream.’ But as long as you’re calling us Redskins and doing tomahawk chops, we can’t look at the American dream, because those things remind us that we are not real human beings to you. And when people aren’t humans, you can turn them into slaves or kill six million of them or shoot them down with Hotchkiss guns and throw them into mass graves at Wounded Knee. 

“No, we’re not looking at the American dream. And why should we? We still haven’t woken up from the American nightmare.”

As an aside, I am proud to say that my alma mater (Morningside University in Sioux City) changed its mascot from “Maroon Chiefs” to “Mustangs” years ago.

Maybe it’s important for us to complete the story, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel. Is the Rudolph story as currently told/sung really the “Christmas message” that we want our kids to hear? In words often attributed to Mark Twain (though he may not have said them), “History doesn’t repeat itself. It rhymes.” 

Maybe if everyone were allowed to talk about how wrong they were to treat Rudolph so poorly just because he is different, a certain elf would have been spared the ridicule of being mocked for his dream of being a dentist. 

Merry Christmas!