Children from all over the world write letters to Santa in hopes of making their Christmas wishes very clear.

In using their plain language, children have a way of cutting through jargon and getting to the heart of the matter.

Well, why don’t more adults write letters to Santa? What better way of putting our thoughts and hopes down on paper than to write up a quick letter and share it with one another.

Here’s my letter for our community:

Dear Santa,

Thanks for all of our gifts you brought to us last year. We know that they are possible only through God’s blessings.

Our list this year isn’t all that long, but it includes some important items.

We know this list includes lots of last-minute requests and some may be difficult to fit into your sleigh, but we’ll appreciate any effort you can make. Many of these aren’t your garden-variety Christmas toys and do-dads, but more intangible items. They may be hard to wrap, but try your best.

Togetherness

First, imagine what would happen if everyone in our area woke up on Christmas morning and from that day forward treated one another with respect and honor. Perhaps a few &uot;play nice&uot; pills would be in order, Santa. No more finger pointing and name calling, just honest, open communication.

Problems cleaned up

The next item would be of great benefit to all of us, especially our law enforcement personnel.

Rid our community of drug and alcohol abuse. These two issues – perhaps more than any others – greatly affect the quality of life in our community. The majority of crime in our area is directly or indirectly related to substance abuse.

Leadership

Next up, how about some sort of community-wide self-help book – a primer on dealing with the difficulties of leadership. Perhaps it would give our leaders the strength to work side-by-side on issues that affect our community. It seems easy to say we’re all on the same team, but making it happen can be difficult. Most of the time, our local leaders do an excellent job at this, but the importance of this can’t be overstated.

Education

Santa, do you have any pull with the court system?

Natchez and Adams County must work to get our public school system out from beneath the restrictive federal court order that limits the growth of the school district. Some of our public schools have incredibly large enrollments. Splitting some of those schools into smaller, more manageable ones is vital to improving our education system.

Economic development

Bring our community lots of large groups to fill the new convention centers that, in turn, will help our economy. And also in this same area, help our economic development officials bring in new industries to help keep our area strong economically.

Recreation

Bring a new public pool or pools to the Miss-Lou. Since Duncan Park’s pool had to be closed, many children in our community have struggled to find a good, clean place to spend those hot summer days.

Thanks Santa, for all your help. And thank you, God, for all the blessings you’ve bestowed upon us.

Merry Christmas and God bless.

Kevin Cooper is editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at (601) 445-3541 or by e-mail at kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.