DOR-SCH: Yes, there is

Gibt es ein Christkind?

Foto: D.H.G. Nymphenburger Park im eisigen Winter/ München

September 1897, Chefredaktion "The Sun“ – N.Y.
Ein Leserbrief : "Lieber Redakteur! Ich bin acht Jahre alt. Einige meiner Freundinnen sagen immer, es gibt gar kein Christkind. Papa aber sagt: Was in der SUN steht ist wahr. Bitte sag mir doch die Wahrheit. Gibt es ein Christkind?
Virginia O`Hanlon"

Foto: D.H.G. verschneiter Wallberg/Tegernsee

Die Antwort des Chefredakteurs Francis Pharcellus Church:

„Ja, Virginia, es gibt ein Christkind. Es gibt es so gewiss wie die Liebe und die Großherzigkeit und die Treue. Weil es all das gibt, kann unser Leben schön und heiter sein. Wie dunkel wäre die Welt, wenn es kein Christkind gäbe! Es gäbe dann auch keine Virginia, keinen Glauben, keine Poesie - gar nichts, was das Leben erst erträglich macht. Ein Flackergeist an sichtbarem Schönen bliebe übrig. Aber das Licht der Kindheit, das die Welt ausstrahlt, müsste verlöschen…………………….. Die wichtigsten Dinge bleiben meistens unsichtbar. …………………………………Was Du auch siehst, Du siehst nie alles. Du kannst ein Kaleidoskop aufbrechen und nach den schönen Farbfiguren suchen. Du wirst einige bunte Scherben finden, nichts weiter. Warum? Weil es einen Schleier gibt, den nicht einmal alle Gewalt auf der Erde zerreißen kann. Nur Glaube und Poesie und Liebe können ihn lüften. Dann wird die Schönheit und Herrlichkeit dahinter auf einmal zu erkennen sein. "Ist das denn auch wahr?" kannst Du fragen. Virginia, nichts auf der ganzen Welt ist wahrer und beständiger. Das Christkind lebt, und ewig wird es leben. Sogar in zehnmal zehntausend Jahren wird es da sein, um Kinder wie Dich und jedes offene Herz mit Freude zu erfüllen.“

Gibt es ein Christkind?

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, a nd the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has s ince become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of langu ages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"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/clipping.htm

http://www.new seum.org/yesvirginia/