Location: Macy’s in Water Tower Place
Date: November & December 2012
“Yes, Virginia, there is a
Santa Claus”
 |
| The letter |
It all started with those 7 magical
words. In 1897 an eight-year old girl,
Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to “The Sun’,
a New York City newspaper, where she asked as only a child can, “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 is so’. Please tell me the
truth: Is there a Santa Claus? - Virginia O’Hanlon”. What followed is stuff of legends that
sometimes makes us rise above mortality.
After receiving this letter, one
of the papers editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, took it upon himself to write
an editorial replying to Virginia’s plea.
Touching the hearts of millions since, to this day it remains the most
reprinted editorial to ever run in an English language newspaper.
“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.”
This editorial not only made
both, Francis and Virginia, household names, its legacy has led to a Publishing
Company, a children’s book, an Emmy award-winning television show, movie,
holiday musical, holiday window display and numerous other events such as its
annual reading at Columbia College of Columbia University, recounting of its
story every year on television, and the establishment of the ‘Virginia O’Hanlon
Scholarship’ at ‘The Studio School’ in New York City. But above all, its most noble outcome is the
Macy’s Believe Campaign for Make-A-Wish Foundation.
 |
| The editorial |
“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 our 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.”
In its first year, the campaign
received 1.1 million letters, with Macy’s making a $1 million contribution to
MAW. Since then the campaign has been a
nationwide phenomenon with celebrity endorsements, more network TV specials and
Virginia receiving her own balloon at the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
parade.
“Not believe in Santa Claus? You
might as well not believe in fairies! You
might get your Papa to hire men to watch 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 that are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Today I collect hundreds of
letters each week from Macy’s, count them and deliver to MAW. Letters written by children - no, people of all
ages - like Virginia who want to believe… maybe even need to believe. Letters of kindness and hope which make one
realize that irrespective of our race, religion, age or social status, we are
all the same. We are like Virginia,
waiting for someone to tell us it’s going to be alright. And despite all of our outward skepticism, we
all believe.
“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, or
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 supernatural beauty and
glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is
nothing else as real and abiding.”
 |
| Virginia |
Every Monday I carry the letters
with me to MAW offices. There are days
when I have over 500 letters and balancing my work bag, coffee, and letters can
become tedious, especially when I am walking almost 1.5 miles in cold
weather. But these are someone’s wishes,
their hearts deepest desire. It is
fitting that this benefits an institution devoted to fulfilling wishes of those
who have very few smiles left. And I get
to help, every week. I went to see a
radio production of ‘It’s A Wonderful
Life’, a story made immortal by Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. It gets me
each time at the end when his brother toasts him by saying, “To my brother George: The richest man in
town”. George may be the richest,
but I consider myself the luckiest person in Chicago. I recently filled out a bio-sketch where one
of the questions was regarding your proudest achievement. Without a second’s hesitation I put down, ‘Being Santa’s elf’.
“No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and he 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.” - The Sun, 1897
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