You've Got To Have Faith

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

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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 external 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 you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign 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 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 lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years form now he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

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I'm not sure how I can update my postscript for the 2010 holiday season. This has been a year of huge changes, at least for me - turning 18, hitting my senior year, panickedly thinking about college and after high school... it's been a year of changes and upheavals and a lot of growth. But something happened last night and this morning that has led me to realize that growing up isn't forever, and it doesn't mean you lose that childlike joy. We got home from my grandma's for Christmas Eve dinner and Mom asked if we wanted to watch a Christmas movie. I got enthusiastic and was chanting "Christmas movie! Christmas movie!" until Dad said that Santa wouldn't come if we were awake. Like someone flipped a switch the chant changed to "I'mma go get ready for bed! Come on guys, let's go to sleep!"

This morning - I actually slept in quite more than I'd intended. 8:30, honestly. And I woke up to my mom and my brother wishing each other Merry Christmas outside my room, and Mom adding that she didn't hear her "five-year-old" downstairs. The "five-year-old" being me. At any rate, "growing older but not up" has been my catchphrase for the last few months.

The Virginia editorial is a constant reminder for me that childhood is a state of mind, not a period of time. That simple wonder, that pure, innocent love... I've seen it in everyone, from the smallest child to some of the eldest people I know. You're never too old to believe in that ideal, and the beauty of Santa is that he never dies. As long as there's love and happiness, there will be a Santa Claus. And he will always be a beacon of light for all that's good in this world.

Smile. <3 He sees you when you're sleeping, and knows when you're awake.