Christmas season is officially upon us. The malls are packed, the parking lots are overflowing, presents are being wrapped and placed under beautifully dressed trees. Tis the season for glistening lights, snow, ice, and of course Santa Claus. Someone pointed out this story to me and I thought I would share it with everyone else.
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my
little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s
so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a
Santa Claus?
-Virginia O’Hanlon
Dear Virginia,
Your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected by
the skepticism of a skeptical age. They
do not believe except what they see. They
think that nothing can be which is
not comprehensible by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether
they be men’s or children’s, are little.
In this great universe of ours, man is
a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect
as compared with the boundless
world about him, as measured by the
intelligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist, and
you know that they abound and give
to your life its highest beauty and
joy. Alas! how dreary would be the
world if there were no Santa Claus! It
would be as dreary as if there were no
Virginias. There would be no childlike
faith then, no poetry, no romance
to make tolerable this existence.
We should have no enjoyment, except
in sense and sight. The external light
would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You
might as well not believe in fairies.
You might get your papa to hire
men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus,
but even if you did not see Santa Claus
coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no
sign that there is no Santa Claus. The
most real things in the world are those
that neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on
the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no
proof that they are not there. Nobody
can conceive or imagine all the wonders
there are unseen and unseeable in the
world.
You tear apart the baby’s
rattle and see what makes the noise
inside, but there is a veil covering the
unseen world which not the strongest
man, nor even the united strength of
all the strongest men that ever lived
could tear apart. Only faith, poetry,
love, romance, can push aside that
curtain and view and picture the
supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it
all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world
there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God!
he lives and lives forever. A thousand
years from now, Virginia, nay 10
times 10,000 years from now, he
will continue to make glad the heart
of childhood.
So no matter how old we get, we can still believe in Santa Claus. Seeing is not believing. We don't have believe in what has been concretely proven and is backed up by evidence, but instead we can believe in what is not proven by science. We can give in to our childhood tendencies to dream, wish, & love not just at Christmas but all year long.
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