Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Song About TOXIC Bullying Added Verses In This Age of Zero Tolerance Against Bullying

The other day I was in the car listening to the radio,  when the popular Christmas song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer came on . I began singing along with it and for the first time realized how the words to this catchy tune tell a very sad story.

t starts off fine describing a reindeer with  his red nose  as the lyrics are:

 Rudolph the red nosed reindeer                                                    

Had a very shiny nose

And if you ever saw it,

You would even say it glows

Then it goes on to describe how the reindeer was bullied and ostracized, simply  because he looked different. This verse actually saddened me as I listened to the following verse:

All of the other reindeer

Used to laugh and call him names

They never let poor Rudolph

Play in any reindeer games.

Luckily for Rudolph, Santa became  Rudolph’s savior as Santa  came to his rescue by  acknowledging Rudolph’s difference and turning his physical  difference and uniqueness into an advantage and an asset. It was because of Rudolph’s   unique difference which allowed    Santa to  navigate his sleigh through the foggy night.The lyrics are as follows:

 

Then one foggy Christmas night

Santa came to say

“Rudoph with your nose so bright

Won’t you guide my sleigh night?

 

Now here is the part that disturbs me. Only because Rudolph was useful and did something heroic based on his  physical difference did the other reindeer finally accept him.  Otherwise , they would never have  accepted him into their group and allow him to play reindeer games with them. Below are the lyrics which disturbed me.

 

Then all the reindeer loved him

As they shouted out with glee

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

You’ll go down in history.

These superficial  reindeer needed to accept Rudolph red nose and all from the beginning, not because he did something which helped Santa. Obviously these  TOXIC reindeer only liked him because he  now had Santa’s blessing who accepted Rudolph’s uniqueness which allowed him to become a  hero.

I don’t think the song  should end there. To me, it is not is finished.  It’s missing several  verses in my view so I took  my songwriting and skills to task and took the  liberty to  write some very much needed verses that apply in this  his day and age of zero tolerance for bullying.  So here are the additional lyrics I wrote  to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 

Then Rudolph told all the reindeer

You hurt my feelings when teasing me

Just cuz someone looks different

You don’t have to be a bully 

 

We come in all shapes and sizes

And  just  to be direct

We all want  love and kindness

And  to be treated with respect.

 

I hope you learned your lesson

That teasing makes others blue

Everyone has feelings

Just like  me and you .

 

So in the  Spirit of  Christmas 

Where forgiveness is number one

Never  tease others

Cuz you can  really hurt someone.

 

While the song written back in 1939  by Robert L. May and  published by Montgomery Ward  and adapted into songs, television specials feature films and has become a figure of Christmas folklore, I believe that these  additional meaningful verses are  now needed  to teach children about the consequences of bullying  and hurt feelings in this age of Zero Tolerance for  Bullying.

                                                                                                   

  MERRY CHRISTMAS   XO