ON FAITH, FANCY, POETRY, LOVE, AND ROMANCE

IN 1897 VIRGINIA O’HANLON WROTE a letter to The Sun, a New York City newspaper: “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?”

Above, Virginia O’Hanlon, c. 1895. Below, her original letter. Images from Wikipedia. 

Wikipedia notes that Laura Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas, 1889–1971, “came to understand that ‘the important thing was’ Church’s writing.” As of 2015 her original letter was held by her great-granddaughter.  

Francis Pharcellus Church responded with an uncredited 416-word editorial, the well-remembered point being “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Equally cogent, whether during Christmas season or otherwise, are elements of his logic supporting this statement. Here are tidbits; the quoted portions are Church’s.

Francis Pharcellus Church, 1839–1906, American publisher and editor. Being an editorial, Church’s famous writing was unattributed until after his death. Wikipedia writes, “The editorial, which has been described as ‘the most famous editorial in history,’ has been translated into 20 languages, set to music, and adapted into at least two movies.”

A Skeptical Age. Church responded, “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.” 

Here I squirm a little, ego and all. 

Our Boundless Universe. “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 to the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.”

Pause here to think about “whole truth and knowledge,” especially augmented/challenged by Artificial Intelligence, its potential—and its hallucinatory hazards.

The Unseen and Unseeable. “Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in this world.”

Let’s celebrate contributions of science that have brought so much into the seeable realm, both nano and cosmo.

Visible-light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Image from popsci.com

In “ ‘Christmas Tree’ Galaxy Shines in New Image from Hubble and JWST,” Laura Baisas describes, “The resulting wavelength coverage, from 0.4 to 5 microns, reveals a vivid landscape of galaxies whose colors give a clue to galaxy distances: The bluest galaxies are relatively nearby and often show intense star formation… while the redder galaxies tend to be more distant, or else contain copious amount of dust.” 

Faith, Fancy, Poetry, Love, and Romance. “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. 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.” 

“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.”

“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.” 

And may we all retain that gladness throughout life. 

By the way, I take my customary holiday hiatus beginning at the close of today’s SimanaitisSays. I might well return before the New Year with some Bests of 2023. In the meantime, enjoy the holiday in a multitude of appropriate ways. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023