Re-gifting, Re-Posting & Re-publishing: My 2016 Christmas Wish as my 2017 Christmas Wish; Hope Exists in America ... STILL.

On September 21, 1897, an eight-year-old girl by the name of Virginia O'Hanlon asked the New York Sun’s editor a simple question: "Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?"

Francis Pharcellus Church, a former civil war correspondent, was the man who answered her question. He had lived through a time, in our country, when hope and faith seemed to not exist. When divisions of belief and ideals ran deep in America. I was going to paraphrase his message, but I find it so inspiring and worthy of your time. Please take moment to read this powerful answer to a simple question. It is a timeless classic and worth the re-read.

"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 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 get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you 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 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, 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 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."

I have great hope for America. I have seen the eyes of new parents gazing for the first time at their newborn baby, members of our military coming home to surprise a family (so powerful, it gets me every time), and the hustle and bustle of a college campus where our youth are exercising their thoughts and beliefs in order to carry the torch for our collective futures. I have seen employees take care of sick colleagues and communities support families who have lost love ones. I have seen people run miles to raise money for a charity and build comprehensive plans to fight deadly diseases. I have seen our country— The United States of America – respond to those in need with money, resources, medicine and food for people who have been impacted by natural and man-made catastrophes. I remember dates in history when someone tried to distinguish hope in America: December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001. I remember events when someone tried to assassinate hope by taking our great leaders such as Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, President Abraham Lincoln, Malcolm X, John Lennon, Dorothy Stang, and Medgar Evers. 

Hope is never diminished, distinguished or assassinated in America; every second of every day it is renewed, restored and reborn stronger than it was. Our goal has always been to try and grasp the "whole of truth and knowledge" which has led to two national mottos: E Plubus Unum (Out of Many, One) and In God we Trust.

I love Mr. Church's response to young Virginia because he did not try to prove the humanity of Santa Claus but highlighted the eternal Spirit of Santa Claus. In a similar way, hope cannot be personalized but the Spirit of America reflects the eternal existence of hope. 

‘Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And yes, HOPE still exists in America and will for “10 times 10,000 years from now"’.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful Happy Holidays. I hope your 2018 is filled with the blessings and renewed faith in what we can all achieve together. The future is bright and the best is yet to come. America's best days are ahead. I would also like to honor the men and women, past and present, that have served and sacrificed for our country. God Bless you and God Bless the United States of America.  

Be well, Patrick S. Finn