In 1897 a little 8 year old girl wrote a letter to The New York Sun. Below is the letter, and the editor (Francis P.Church)'s response. It is always worth reprinting at this time of year! Dear Editor, I am 8 years old. Some of my 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? ...Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love & 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 Virginia's. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external 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 even 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 no children or 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 all the wonders there are unseen or unseeable in the world... 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. This is the 105th year since this was originally printed and even though the Sun has fallen to the realm of tabloid trash this one editorial is timeless.

Why shouldn't speech be free? Very little of it is worth anything.

Attached Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1205/p11s01-coop.html

NEW YORK On Thanksgiving morning, I turned on the TV to watch the Macy's Parade on NBC. What I expected to see was a tribute to children's delight as they catch sight of the giant balloons bobbing high above the city streets. What I expected to hear was extended commentary on the sparkle in the eyes of parents and grandparents, smiling at the children's joy. Instead, what I found was one big promotion for products and people. Each time the commentators mentioned a balloon or float, they cited the corporate sponsor. When the Clifford balloon bounced by, the commentary was that book sales have surpassed $110,000,000. When Angelina Ballerina appeared, the TV audience learned that videos are available. The actors on the "Wild West" float, we were told, were the cast of NBC's program, "Happy Family," which, we heard, can be seen on Tuesdays at 9:30. As the mustachioed Mr. Monopoly, from the game, "Monopoly," floated high above, the comment was that he'd like to keep all of his money, and that his favorite place is Fort Knox. After all, on Thanksgiving Day, NBC also showed the 1947 classic movie, "Miracle on 34th Street," about the Macy's Santa who was the real Santa, Kris Kringle. He carried gifts of "kindness and joy and love" wherever he went. Because of him, a little girl learned that "if things don't turn out at first, you still have to believe." The film imparted its essential message of good, the importance of faith in love, and faith in believing in things "even in the face of common sense." The film told us about goodness in life, not about goods and how much they cost. Long live that miracle on 34th Street.

I remember seeing the old re runs of the tv show that actually had the 60 yr old Virginia (real person) who wrote that letter to the Sun. I think that as long as their is chrismtas that story will continue to live on.

But Virginia had so many more questions ;-) http://www.thebigjewel.com/yikesvirginia/