I saw this cartoon on Facebook this morning. My good friend Tina Milano posted it, and I borrowed it to share here:

The funny thing is that I was thinking about Rudolph and the gang just the other day. I wondered how little kids who are bullied (or are bullies, for that matter) relate to the song’s message.

As you’ll recall, because of his nose, Rudolph’s friends laughed at him and called him names. They shunned him and wouldn’t let him play their games. Pretty harsh stuff, right?

But, wait. The weather stinks, poor visibility – and Santa decides to use Rudolph’s shiny, red honker as the guide light for his Christmas eve toy run. A logical choice, but I always wondered, did Santa know the other reindeer were giving Rudolph a hard time prior to that evening? Did he care? And if he did, why didn’t he step in sooner and tell them to cut that crap out? Hardly seems like behavior that Santa would condone.

Rudolph, of course, is happy to help out but was possibly thinking something like, “Hey, suckahs – how do you like my nose NOW?”

But what pisses me off the most is that then, all those two-faced critters do an about-face.

“Oh, Rudolph, we LOVE YOU! You are so amazing! Honey, you’re going to go down in HISTORY! OMG, Rudy!”

Talk about sucking up.

If I were Rudolph, I’d tell Blitzen to kiss my furry ass. Suggest that Comet stuff his congratulations where the sun don’t shine. You get the idea. Freaking bullies. Now everything is just hunky dory? I don’t think so.

We’ll never know what happened after that foggy night of same-day deliveries. If I were Rudolph, I’d do something to those assholes who gave him a hard time, but being nonviolent, I wouldn’t resort to turning them into mounted heads on the wall. That seems extreme.

But here’s a 21st century twist to this old song.

While reindeer apparently are too tricky and devious for commercial use, Amazon is trying its best to match Santa’s feat. I think they even make some deliveries on Christmas day.

They have wisely steered clear of magic reindeer, but if Amazon’s soon-to-be-introduced drones are adorned with little red lights, I think we’ll all know where the inspiration came from. Right? At least drones are unlikely to pick on each other.

On that note, I’d like to wish a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.