We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of THE SUN:
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.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.
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VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except 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 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, 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.
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I'm not quite sure what I can add this year. I have never stopped believing that Santa Claus is real. In the past I've talked a little bit about belief, or about faith, or stuff like that. In light of everything this year, I really don't know that I can discuss belief or faith with any degree of legitimacy.
Well. I suppose I actually can. Despite everything this year, I still believe in Santa. I still believe in love, and in fancy, and in poetry, and in romance, and in faith. I still cling to hope, and I believe in love, and that's faith enough for me.
... I think I just quoted Rush in my Christmas blog. o.o That is awesome. And a sign of how tired I am.
At any rate. Christmastime is a time to remember the good things about the previous year, and anticipate the better things of the year to come. It's like New Year's, but with more love and joy and family and less alcohol. Hopefully.
Being nineteen this year, and having been a legal adult for more than twelve months now, I think I can pretty safely exhort you all - whoever reads my mindless drivel - to NEVER LET GO of that childlike wonder. Don't let it go, don't lose it, no matter WHAT. That is what keeps us human, that is what keeps us going when things suck so badly that we want to give up because what's the point, it's never going to get better after this... that innocent joy in the simple things - Santa. Snow. Eggnog. The magic that is the Internet. Seeing people you've not seen in years, people who mean the world to you - THAT is what defines who we are and what our lives are. Don't let that go, whatever else you do, stay innocent. Don't give in to the skepticism of a skeptical age.
"He lives, and he lives forever." Santa is the age-old embodiment of that childlike wonder we all need so much. Besides, if you believe in nothing, what point is there in living? Consider a modified Pascal's Wager. If you don't believe in Santa Claus, and he turns out to be real...... how much joy and surprise and love have you missed in your life, just because you had to see to believe?
One of my favorite holiday movies is Miracle on 34th Street. The old, old one, the original movie. No one ever conclusively proved anything; Kris could've been Santa, he could've been a nice old man with a beard. The fact remains that Doris and Susan believed, and so for them, he WAS Santa. That is all that mattered. Perception shapes reality. If you believe in goodness and right, then that is what you will see. If you believe everyone hates you, that is how the world will seem to you. It's as simple as that.
(No it's not, nothing ever is, but if you believe, then that's more LIKELY how you'll perceive it.)
Yes, I am spinning out writing this so I can post it on Christmas Day proper instead of in the last moments of Christmas Eve.
I really don't know how to wrap this up, except... "Fill your hearts with the Christmas cheer, 'cos Santa Claus comes tonight." :)
I will talk to you all tomorrow morning - a more sane hour of tomorrow morning - "'cos tonight's the night the world begins again."
I hope you've all been good this year! I haven't been perfect. I know this. But I have been true to myself, and I believe that is what matters.
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. <3
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