things I think

This was from a stream of Twitter speculation....

If I were worldbuilding from scratch, while I'd still give people free will (and therefore, the ability to not be good people), I'd also factor something else in.

A Santa Claus. For everyone. Yes, a really real, literal Santa Claus. And one unmoored from any religious antecedents, so you could be, for example, Buddhist, and still get a visit from Santa.

And Santa would be for adults as well as children.

Oh, no one would get a *lavish* gift - it would be small things, perhaps in some cases ephemeral things like an amaryllis to sprout or a box of nice cookies - but there would be that "small gift once a year" thing.

But there'd be one catch: You had to be on the Nice List. Yes, there would be a Nice List. Based on how you treated other people, based on whether you were honest, and based on whether you were trustworthy and did your work and those kinds of things.

Because I tend to be all about the outside validation (more than is good for me): getting a "Santa present" would mean you were doing okay. Not getting a "Santa present" would mean you should examine your life and figure out where you need to be better. (There would be no coal or switches. There would just be nothing for the people on the Naughty List. Why make Santa go to the effort to bring a "you done donked up, human" gift to someone?)

(And then, I realized, and Tweeted with horror: WHAT IF THERE REALLY IS A SANTA AND WE ARE JUST ALL TERRIBLE HUMANS SO WE NEVER GET GIFTS?)

And yes, I'm being completely fanciful here, but....wouldn't it be nice? Maybe, as the old year fades away, to come home one day to a small wrapped package in your mailbox (or, since we're allowing for magic in this world, sitting on your kitchen table). And you'd see it, and you'd know: hey, I did okay this year. And then you'd get to unwrap it and there would be some small fun thing for you (because Santa, being magic, would know what would be the best small fun thing for you).

And of course, kids would get them too. But SO WOULD ADULTS. (And as I've said: that does feel like a cheat of adulthood - no Santa for adults, and we are expected to be even more-good than children are).

And, as I said, EVERYONE would get them, there would be no, "oh, no, poor kids don't get a Santa like kids from better off families do." And "Jewish kids get a Santa present as well." And all of that.

Though then again - I could see some of the people who were not Good Humans either pretending by buying something and showing it off, or throwing tantrums about it, or maybe just taking the gift intended for a family member or housemate and claiming it as their own. Because you never know what people will do in a selfish mood.