In September of 1897, a curious young girl by the name of Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to the editor of the New York’s Sun with a burning question; “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?”
This excerpt is part of a wonderful response provided by the editor, veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church. Virginia’s question and Francis’ response remain my favorite story.
“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.”
As we approach the season of especially good cheer, love, connection, family and friends, I stop to give pause to the power of connection, the power of connection to and with the unseen. Just because we cannot see them does not mean they are not there. “The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.”
In my day-to-day business as a spirit medium, I connect people to loved ones we cannot see and yet I know we are connecting to a powerful source of love. I feel the energy which radiates between those in spirit and those in flesh and I relish in the joy of making those connections. I am humbled by my ability to facilitate the connection.
Time and time again I find myself shaking my head and wondering “how this whole thing works”. Although I love asking questions about everything in life, I have learned, over the years to accept that not all questions have answers and even though I cannot see Santa Claus coming down the chimney, doesn’t mean there is no Santa Claus.
Even though I cannot understand nor prove how we connect with our loved ones in spirit and them with us, I know it is possible as I live it every day and I witness the joy and love which accompanies each and every connection. “Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Yes my dear, there is a connection and in the words of Pharcellus Church, “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.”