An Advent story.(1) Once upon a time there was a sleepy
little village called Cheeryvale, just west of
Noplaceinparticular. Now, Noplaceinparticular was a thriving
metropolis. Young people seemed especially to be attracted to
it, and everyone knows that a thriving community needs young
people. In homes all over the territory come Saturday night,
parents would ask their teenagers, "Where are you going?" and
the response was invariably, "Oh, Noplaceinparticular." They
all went there...almost all.
There was one young man in Cheeryvale who rarely followed
the crowd to the big city. He could have had he wanted to - he
was very popular. In fact, he was president of the student
body at Cheeryvale High, captain of the football team and class
valedictorian. On top of that, he worked weekends as a stock
clerk at Ferguson's Drugstore and was a leader of the youth
group in his church. Everybody liked him, young and old. His
senior class yearbook had a big picture of him in it with the
caption "Most Likely to Succeed." It had been a unanimous
vote. Word was that he would be a shoo-in if he ever decided
to run for the legislature or even Congress someday. He was
quite a young fellow.
As it turned out, he did go into politics, locally. After
he finished High School, he went off to State University
because it was nearby and he would be able to get home every
weekend. He graduated with honors, then, unlike so many of his
classmates who went off to the bigger cities to seek their
fortunes, he returned to Cheeryvale and went to work in his
father's cabinet-making business. Within a few years he had
been elected Mayor...quite an honor for one so young.
He took the position very seriously. He firmly believed
that the people's trust was a very special responsibility. He
worked hard, harder than any mayor Cheeryvale had ever had. In
fact, he was SUCH a hard worker, such a dedicated public
servant, that when it came time for the next election, no one
wanted to run against him. It did not matter that no one would
have had a chance of defeating him - no one wanted to see HIM
defeated. He was too good. Through the years the situation
repeated itself. It got to the place where, finally, no one
could remember when he had NOT been mayor...but no one minded.
He was the one who had attracted that modern factory on the
edge of town that had given so many people jobs. He was the
one responsible for that lovely park over by the lake that
provided recreation for so many families. He had even donated
the granite drinking fountain in the town square out of his own
money. He was the one who had been the leader in getting that
beautiful new town hall built. To everyone, he was MR.
Cheeryvale, and he had gotten the title the old-fashioned
way...he had EARNED it.
Many years went by. Cheeryvale continued to grow...just
quickly enough to keep things lively, but not so fast as to
create real problems. The mayor kept up his good work on
behalf of the local citizens. Life was good...for them and for
him.
Town Council meeting. An idea had been brewing in the mind
of the Chair of the Department of Recreation. He rose to his
feet and advanced a proposal which everyone heartily endorsed
as soon as it was out of his mouth - a day set aside to honor
this man who had done so much for all of them...MAYOR'S DAY.
Of course, the mayor was very honored by the thought and
told the council so. He said something like that really was
not necessary - he felt appreciated enough without a big
celebration. But his protests fell on deaf ears, and this was
one occasion when the council firmly overrode the mayor's
objections. Secretly, he did not mind - it made him feel
rather good.
So plans were made. A day was set aside three months
hence, the 25th. A committee was established to plan
activities and promote the festivities. They wanted Mayor's
Day to be different from other special days honoring
individuals. They wanted to do something other than just have
a parade with high school marching bands and scout troops.
They wanted to give the whole town the chance to participate in
many different ways.
The mayor did not quite know what to expect, but he did not
mind. He was really quite excited about it all - a DAY...just
for him. He walked a little straighter, carried his chin a
little higher, smiled even more than usual when people would
come rushing up to him to say how proud they were of him and
how much he deserved something like this. He began to imagine
the many congratulations and certificates of merit and little
plaster statuettes that would be coming his way. It crossed
his mind that they might even name the new town hall after him.
There would be a sense of joy as he watched the town fathers
hang his picture up and down Main Street. He would enjoy
hearing the Cheeryvale Glee Club sing, "For He's a Jolly Good
Mayor." The more he thought about it, the more pleased he got.
Soon Cheeryvale began to take on a festive air. Garlands
of lights and tinsel were hung between lamp posts in the
downtown shopping district. They stretched a giant banner over
the main intersection by the town square proclaiming in bright
red letters, HAPPY MAYOR'S DAY. People rushed to and fro in
their preparations for the big event.
The supermarkets in Cheeryvale began to make their parking
lots available to some of the local civic organizations so they
might raise some needed cash by selling Mayor's Day bushes.
Big hand-lettered signs saying, "Buy Your Mayor's Day Bush From
Us - Cheeryvale High School Band Boosters Club," and others
similar began to spring up. The mayor could not figure a
connection between the bushes and his special day, but he did
not object, especially since everyone seemed to be enjoying
buying them so much and seeing how much money was being raised
for worthy causes. In fact, he minded even less as he
overheard the conversations among friends in their shopping
that would conclude with something like, "Hey, listen, if I
don't see you anymore between now and then, have a Happy
Mayor's Day." The mayor thought that was a nice touch.
But he began to wonder. Everyday he rose early, showered
and dressed in one of his better suits in case the
photographers would come to take the pictures to be displayed
downtown and published in the Cheeryvale Gazette. But day
after day went by and no one came. Finally, reluctantly, he
decided to call the paper to see when someone would be coming
over. They were surprised that the Mayor had not gotten the
word...they had decided to cancel that part of the plan. They
figured that downtown was decorated enough already, and nothing
more was needed. Besides, the folks at the paper were really
snowed under just now with all the Mayor's Day promotions and
sales going on all over town. They had more advertisements
scheduled to run than they had ever had in their history.
There had been a rash of petty thefts and shoplifting that the
sheriff was attributing to people who were feeling left out of
all the Mayor's Day festivities. Then there was that campaign
that the paper was heading up calling for donations of toys and
food to be given to poor families on Mayor's Day. Time was
running out. After all, there were only 12 more shopping days
till Mayor's Day as it was.
Speaking of shopping, everyone was doing it. The merchants
of Cheeryvale were calling this the best season of the entire
year. You see, someone had gotten the idea that Mayor's Day
would be a good time for exchanging gifts among friends and
family. The mayor thought that it probably would have been
more apropos to give gifts to HIM, but he realized that perhaps
people really did not know what to give him anyway, so he
accepted what was happening, even if he did not understand it.
The only thing he noticed was that everyone seemed to be buying
NUTS. THAT, he thought, was appropriate.
There were other things that were not appropriate at ALL
though. The mayor had been a teetotaler all his life, but now,
in honor of his day, everyone began to hold Mayor's Day
cocktail parties. Some of the offices in town were even
planning to knock off work early on the 24th to have a real
company-wide blow-out. It might have been a little more
understandable if they had planned to invite Hizzoner. After
all, this whole thing WAS set up to honor HIM...but no
invitations came. The mayor began to feel a little left out.
Mayor's Day was acquiring some dimensions no one had counted
on.
Probably the strangest of all was this fellow that the
children had begun to talk so much about...St. Cheeryface.
Somehow, a story had gotten started among some of the small fry
that this St. Cheeryface would come round on the night before
Mayor's Day and bring lots of toys and gifts to all the
children in the town. That was probably the biggest thing
behind all the shopping going on. The mayor figured that St.
Cheeryface was the invention of the merchants in town to boost
sales, but he never bothered to talk to any of them about it.
The local radio station picked up on all the St. Cheeryface
publicity, figuring that the more they promoted the idea, the
more commercials the businesses would buy. They had songs on
the air like "Jolly Old St. Cheeryface," and "You'd better
watch out, you'd better not cry, Don't make St. Cheeryface
frown." There were a few things on that still reminded people
of what the celebration was all about. There was "I'm dreaming
of a white Mayor's Day," but this was just one more thing the
mayor did not understand because, any other time that snow
fell, people complained bitterly about it - slippery sidewalks,
dangerous driving, things like that. Strange songs...strange
EVERYTHING, thought the mayor.
To the radio station's credit, they did not spend ALL their
time playing songs and airing commercials that promoted Mayor's
Day sales. The owner of the station every afternoon had a program on where he would sit and talk about "Just Things." And he would talk and he would talk! He said that, as a citizen of Cheeryvale, he had been
pleased to see the community spirit so evident in the success
of the drive to collect food and toys for those less fortunate.
Then he concluded by saying it would be a grand idea if people
would remember the spirit of Mayor's Day, not just one day of
the year, but all year through. It was nice -
"God, Mother and Apple Pie" - nothing controversial. But,
as was the policy of the station, if anyone had a response to any of the comments,
other points of
view were invited. They could call and arrange for a time when their
opinions might be presented. To the station's surprise, they
got such a call on this one - from the Rev. Dr. Brown, minister
of the Cheeryvale Presbyterian Church.
Arrangements were made and Dr. Brown went on the air. He
said: "My friends, I have come here today to reply to an
editorial that this station aired two days ago in which the
manager praised our community's efforts to aid some of those in
Cheeryvale who might not have as happy a Mayor's Day as others.
I agree with him. This is a generous community. But I should
like to offer one suggestion...when those baskets of food and
toys are delivered, let those who receive them know that they
are being given in the name of the one after whom this day is
named - our mayor. Let no one think that these gifts come from
some jolly old St. Cheeryface. Let them know that we in
Cheeryvale wish to take this special opportunity to share of
what we have in honor of this man who has given of himself so
unstintingly for so long. I and my family have appreciated all
the joy and happiness that have surrounded the preparation for
Mayor's Day. I think that such an atmosphere is in keeping
with honoring a man whose warm personality and pleasant
demeanor have given such joy and happiness to all of us. But
one thing has distressed me...in the midst of all the hustle
and bustle, I fear that too many have forgotten the cause for
our celebration as well as the one whom we seek to honor. I
sum it up by saying simply this: KEEP THE MAYOR IN MAYOR'S DAY.
We make a grave mistake if we do not. Thank you."
It would be nice to say that Dr. Brown's sermonette had an
impact, but it did not - preachers are used to that. Those
Mayor's Day Eve cocktail parties went on as scheduled. The
buying and selling went on right up to the last possible
moment. Children were still much more interested in St.
Cheeryface than the mayor. Those baskets of food and toys were
delivered, not in the name of the mayor, but in the name of the
Cheeryvale Rotarians, Lions, and Kiwanis. Nothing really
changed because of what the pastor had said.
Mayor's Day finally came. It was different...no parades,
no marching bands, no floats. There were no presentations of
keys to the city...no announcement about naming the new town
hall in the mayor's honor. As a matter of fact, there were no
public events of any kind. Everyone was too busy in their own
homes around those bushes they had bought in the supermarket
parking lots. They were busy exchanging all those gifts from
St. Cheeryface. They were busy preparing for big family
dinners. There was no time for any kind of public gathering to
honor the mayor. Frankly, the people were having too good a
time doing what they were doing...everyone except the mayor.
Hizzoner sat alone all day. No one bothered to call. No
one came by. No one invited him to drop by for a visit, just
as no one had invited him to any of their pre-Mayor's Day
parties. They were all too busy. "Mayor's Day," he thought...
"Big deal!"
Poor Mayor. Poor Mayor.
Amen!
1. Adapted and enlarged upon from "Christmas in Pleasantville" by Calvin Miller, Sixteen Days
on the Church Calendar, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968), pp. 113-120
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