Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
Virginia O’Hanlon wrote the inquiry and veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the response that became the well-loved “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” letter.
“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, 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 eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. . .
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.”[1]
My holiday wish for each of you is a stocking full of happy and paying clients, helpful and supportive staff, cherished legal colleagues and precious family and friends to return home to at day’s end.
Camille Stell is the Director of Client Services for Lawyers Mutual and unabashedly cries every time she reads Virginia’s letter and Church’s response. Contact Camille at 800.662.8843 or Camille@lawyersmutualnc.com.
[1] Portion of the original editorial reprinted from www.newseum.org. The blog posting originally appeared in the December issue of the Greensboro Bar Association newsletter.
