Well I would say the story of the bike is not about the bike at all. Christmas is not about gifts but about family, community, and the innocence of children. We can have all the money in the world but that is not what matters in life. I can buy as many gifts as I want and that does not make Christmas any better. Money is just an overvalued resource. Don't get me wrong, I am not naive, the world has been setup in a way where we need money right now to survive as long as possible. I am not going to fight this system; it is too powerful. But this system can be leveraged to our benefit if we understand our "enemy" while focusing on the things that really do make the world beautiful.

Many people "hate" Wall Street and I think that "hate" towards Wall Street is an illusion caused by the fog of "war"; people hate greed. I do not hate anyone. At one point, every person on Wall Street was a beautiful child.

We all started as beautiful children but the world changed us. We adapted to the world so we could survive. We lost our innocence.

We used to be beautiful babies filled with nothing but love. My parents were so good to me, even if they did make mistakes. No one is perfect; we are all human. My parents did not give me what I needed to survive, they gave me what I needed to come out of one of the world's many iterations of hell.

I believe in God not because I have talked to God. I have tried but I do not have what is needed to talk to God. I think I am probably too corrupted. Maybe I am just being lazy? I believe in God because I believe the devil exists.

I used to be homeless. I rejected my parents and left home. I stopped going to school. I would get arrested and I did not care; I liked it. I would get out of jail and go back to playing in the streets so I could dance with the devil. The devil never rejected me. He embraced me and I thought he was my friend. It was a mistake and I regret it to this day.

I loved playing in the streets. I miss it all the time and that is very hard to explain. I have a friend from those days and we still talk. He misses it too. It is very strange. I pray no one goes through what me and my friend went through. Rage, lust, and greed is a lot of fun but incredibly destructive. It changes you and you cannot undo that evil. It is just a weight on your heart. The world is not filled with sunshine and rainbows. It is filled with good and bad. The world has rainbows, but it is not filled with rainbows. We do not choose our parents. I am blessed. We do not choose our neighbors. I am blessed. But we can choose to reject evil and walk away.

Luckily my parents gave me a strong moral base. I was able to dance with the devil and later walk away and say enough is enough. Thank you mom and dad.

If I did not have my parents, I have no idea where I would be for eternity. I probably would have let the world devour me and I think I would have enjoyed it. I enjoyed it when it was happening. Like I said, very strange.

Your Christmas story is beautiful. It is beautiful for many reasons.

It depicts community. It depicts the innocence of children. It depicts family and the role of a mother who adores her child. It depicts a man who is willing to fight for what he believes is right. I don't think you or this mother cared about the seat, you care about this child. You care about avoiding a situation where this child losses some of her innocence. You did not want her to receive what is supposed to be a wonderful gift but then get hit with the reality that sometimes the world gives us a bike without a seat. Sometimes the world sets us up for failure. But if you have a good mom, she will try to protect your innocence. A good mom will try to shield the worlds failures from her children. If you have a good neighbor, this person will relentlessly call Walmart until they give the child what she deserves; the ability to maintain her innocence.

There is always the possibility the little girl does not like the new bike because it has an old seat. She may not appreciate this now. It would be hard to appreciate this story as a child. But this little girl has a good mom and a good neighbor. This little girl could get nothing for Christmas and she would still have everything she needs. A good mom and a good neighbor.

You asked for a personal story so I gave you one. Be careful what you ask for 😉.

Thank you for asking me to tell a personal story. It was nice to tell this story. There is a song, it says something to the effect of, you don't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. I don't know if you needed this, but I think I did.

Have a wonderful Christmas!