YES, VIRGINA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS! Every year at this time, parents are faced with the question they dread the most. Is there a Santa Claus? There are always children at school who don’t believe in the jolly old St. Nick. These children take great joy in trying to spread doubt among the younger boys and girls. So, this year, when you are faced with the question, sit your child down and read to them one of the greatest classics ever written. You will recognize it as the famous Virginia’s Letter. Back in 1897, a young girl named Virginia O’Hanlon, of New York City wrote the following letter to the New York Sun, one of the most prestigious newspapers in New York. 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? Signed: Virginia O’Hanlon The newspaper assigned Francis P. Church, a veteran newspaperman who had been with The Sun for twenty years, to answer this seemingly unanswerable question. His reply is one of the most famous new paper editorials of all time. Dear Virginia: Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical 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 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 eternal light with which childhood fills the world 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 they 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, fancy, poetry, love, and romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural 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 he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. So this Christmas season, let us all remember that the most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. We don’t have to see Santa Claus to believe in him and to witness first hand the glory of the Christmas Spirit. Let’s keep Santa Claus alive and in doing so we can all enjoy the blessings this great season has to offer. Merry Christmas everyone! https://youtube/watch?v=Aevy8jIBZmM
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:42:21 +0000
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