I’m a bad Santa
Trimmed down the big beard
Decades before it went white
Won’t lie to kids about
Flying reindeer and
Living at the North Pole
(It’s melting, you know)
Or knowing if they’ve
Been too bad or good enough
Won’t promise stuff
Their mom and dad can’t afford
That’s not made by elves, but
By people in far countries
Working long hours for little pay
Or tell them the grownups
Always know what’s best for them
No, I’m a very bad Santa
I want to tell them the truth

Bob Wertzler is retired from almost twenty years in the mental health field in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist”, seems to fit. In 2006 he retired to move to Western North Carolina to help and become primary care giver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was work at various times as a soldier (US Army 1967-70), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, and other things. He relates to a line in a Grateful Dead song, “What a long, strange trip its been.”