Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

You will probably see this editorial, one of the most famous ever written, all over the Internet this Christmas season. It was written in 1897 in response to a letter by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon. Yes, you may see it all over the Internet, but you will also see it here. The answer to her question gives, in my opinion, one of the best definitions of what Christmas, and Santa Claus, is all about.

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 W. 95th St.

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 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 may 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 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 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.

I believe in Santa Claus. I believe in the inherent goodness and generousity of human beings. Unfortunately, we hear mostly the bad things and so seldom hear the good. When we hear the good, it's usually at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Sometimes we hear the good things when someone needs or wants publicity for one reason or another. There's usually an ulterior motive for the good to be told. I know that good people do good things all the time. I just wish we'd hear more of it all year long.