Naughty or Nice?

December 16, 2025

By Nate Smelle

Well, we are only a week away from that holiest of holy days when Santa Claus comes to town and drops off a load of presents for the local kids who found their way onto his “Nice List” in 2025. With North Hastings all aglow in a rainbow of colourful lights, kids from one to 93 wait anxiously for the Jolly Old Elf’s arrival, wondering whether this year they were “nice” enough to make to list.

Going through the letters to Santa submitted by local students to The Bancroft Times for the annual Season’s Greetings section included in these pages, I noticed that every single child informed the “Big Man in Red” that they were nice this year. As I read the letters one by one, I was reminded of another letter I had received from a local parent last December.

Since I was asked not to publish the letter to help protect their child from bullies at their school, until now it had remained in the back of my mind and the bottom of my backpack. However, with 100 per cent of local children reporting that they had been nice over the past year I figured it was worth digging it out to have another look. While I cannot go into the details of the bullying this child experienced, I can say that it was disgusting to learn what this child endured on a daily basis.

Abused both physically and mentally, this child learned the hard way that sticks and stones and names all hurt deeply. Bullying is something each of us has encountered at one time or another in our lives. Therefore what this child went through in 2024 is something each of us can relate to on some level.

Furthermore, it is because of our firsthand experience of bullying that we know, as rational adults, that picking on others out of your own self-interest is not nice. In fact, there is no better way to earn yourself a spot in Santa’s “Naughty List” than by being a bully.

This truth begs one question: What qualifies someone as a bully?

Not too long after I first started working here in 2012, I had the chance to interview Barbara Coloroso, author of the book The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander. An expert on the subject, Coloroso explained that for a bully, bullying is “… a conscious, willful, deliberate, hostile activity intended to harm, where you get pleasure from someone else’s pain.” In other words, the sticks and stones and names hurled at others are delivered with malicious intent.

Of course the damage done by sticks and stones can most times be prevented through physically defending yourself or your friends when faced with a bully. Harmful words on the other hand, are not easily removed from one’s consciousness. Like an infection taking root, they tend to fester slowly, gradually transforming into form of suffering that can last a lifetime—and in some cases, even prove to be deadly.

That is why as adults, it is on each of us to teach the next generation why we all must strive to be on the Nice List. And, by means of our own lived example, show them how to be nice. Whether it’s the Prime Minister of Canada, the King of the United Kingdom, or the President of the United States, our world leaders also need to set a good example for future leaders.

Certainly being on the world stage and under such scrutiny at all times is more than taxing. Still, we must hold those with great power to the highest standard.

So, without mentioning the names of the top dogs barking, or even the tough questions that provoked their response, let’s take a look at some of the words coming out of the mouths of our “leaders.”

“This is never going to happen. Canada’s not for sale. It never will be for sale,” said one leader.

“I know I was criticized in one magazine where the writer was retarded,” said another so called leader.

“We believe that First Nations rights holders in this country has to agree and support,” responds another when confronted about a controversial pipeline.

“Quiet piggy!” another said threateningly to a reporter questioning him about his ties to a long time friend, who happens to be a well known child sex trafficker and pedophile.

Since i promised not to get bogged down in pointing fingers and blaming names, I will leave it up to you decide which of the leaders I have quoted here is setting a nice example for the next generation, and which will be on Santa’s Naughty List this year.