"No, Virginia, There Is No Santa Claus" -- My Rewritten Editorial
Dec. 24, 2011
According to Wikipedia, the most widely reptrinted editorial in the English language is "Yes, Virginia." Here it is.
"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."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical 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 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 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.
http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia
Why is this the most reprinted editorial? Because it was written for parents, not for Virginia. It was written to reduce the sense of guilt that every parent who tells his child this huge lie, knowing that they will be exposed as liars at some point. The parents even get the family's older children involved, making them co-conspirators.
The entire Santa myth has been an attempt to de-sacralize Christmas from day one. It converts the great truth into a great lie. It makes deception the source of great joy -- a joy that is dashed to pieces and replaced by skepticism and distrust.
So, in the spirit of Christmas -- the real one -- I have rewritten the famous editorial.
But there is a much deeper problem here. Your parents do not really believe in anything they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their minds. They want you to share their deeply held faith. So, they devised a scheme: to plant faith in the unseen in your mind and then have it taken a way. They created a temporary fantasy world, so that you might delight briefly in a world that has now been lost to you forever. Your friends have already gone through the terrible emotional pain of having been delivered without warning into a world which their parents resent, but which is the only one they know.
Your parents believe, deep in their hearts, that all minds are little. In the Darwinist's view of the universe, 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. But they have lost faith in an all-seeing God for whom nothing is a mystery, and who sent His Son to bring salvation to men, who are not ants, but who are made in the image of God.
No, VIRGINIA, there is no Santa Claus, but there is Jesus Christ. Your parents, having lost faith in Jesus Christ long ago, thought they could amuse themselves by telling you the story of Santa. They wanted to be children once again, when they also thought they could trust their parents. Santa is a figment of their imaginations, a preposterous being who gives gifts to all children, irrespective of what they have done fir the previous 12 months. They would like to believe in a God who is equally indiscriminate. He isn't. They know He isn't.
"Alas!" your parents think, "how dreary the world is, because there is no Santa Claus." But, briefly, there is childlike faith, which is why it is associated with children. Your Parents have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. They have lost the eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of God, people must become as little children. Your parents are unwilling to do this.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might as well not believe in angels and demons! You might aa well not believe in heaven and hell! Nobody sees any of these things, but that is no sign that they do not exist. 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. But it is also no proof that they are. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. So, they must look to signs beyond what they can see in order to discover what is there, waiting for them, and what is not.
Here is your problem. If you do not believe in Santa and fairies, you may be tempted not to believe in angels and demons, heaven and hell. So, when you have at last lose your faith in Santa, as you are about to do, your parents hope that you will also lose your faith in demons and angels and above all, God. For they no longer believe in Him, which is why they lied to you. They wanted to teach you not to believe in what they no longer believe. The story of Santa Claus was their tool of devangelism: the bad news. The bad news is this: there is no God.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He never was and never will be. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, the story of his non-existence will continue to make miserable the transition from trusting childhood to distrusting adulthood, when young people learn at last that their parents have delighted in deceiving them. You are now about to make that transition.
But there is a way out for you, and also a way in. There is no Santa, but there is God. There are no fairies, but there are angels. There is no one magically to bring you gifts in wrapped boxes, but there is One who brings you the greatest gift of all. We celebrate His birth on Christmas day. You should, too. Then be sure to invite your parents to regain their lost faith in a world they cannot see.