― Bamigboye Olurotimi
When I first attended McGill university, just a few years (I mean decades) ago, I found that I didn't have enough money to buy my school books - money was supposed to be coming in, but it hadn't arrived yet, and the school year had begun. I came home to the military barracks I was living in just outside of Montreal, one evening, to find an envelop with the words "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" on the outside, tucked under my door. Inside was 100 dollars - which was a lot of money a few decades ago! There was no note, no author, no one to thank. If I had ever wondered if Santa existed, this person was clearly telling me he did ;)
According to Wikipedia - which is never incorrect - in 1897, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia O'Hanlon (1889–1971), whether Santa Claus really existed. Her father told her to write to The Sun, the prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so."
The answer that was published in that paper has meant quite a bit to me over the years and not simply because one of the Canadian soldiers left me money for my books (and didn't want any thanks for it whatsoever) but because it represents all that is good in our world. That we can give to each other, without asking for thanks or anything else in return. That we can have faith that there is a greater good out there, that we can rely on. A greater good that exists in our hearts and in our instincts, we see this not just in humans but in all animals as well. My favourite line is "The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see." I too, believe this to be true ;)
I have been asked just tonight by my daughter if the tooth fairy really exists, and I answered the same response that I've given all of my children anytime they asked me if something existed - do you believe the tooth fairy exists? Then of course she does. Do you receive money under your pillow? Then of course she does. Do you receive presents at Christmas? Then of course Santa exists. When you stop believing, he will stop coming. I will never stop believing, because I have the gift of dreams that come true....
I believe in my dreams even when I don't see proof of them ...
I believe I'll find love, even if I can't see it in front of me...
I believe that there is good throughout the world, even in the worst of times...
I believe we can achieve anything we set our minds to, that life is 80% psychological and willpower and discipline is all we need to get there....
Because I believe, it is true.
As long as we believe, it will live forever and ever....
The response that was published ("Is There a Santa Claus?" reprinted from the September 21, 1897, number of The New York Sun) is this:
"Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except that which 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 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."
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