Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (紅豆轉貼網路文章)

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

這是個很可愛的小故事~

1897年紐約太陽報( The New York Sun) 的編輯佛蘭西斯﹐邱契 (Francis Church) 的收到一個8歲小女孩的來信。邱契 (Church) 人如其名﹐父親是個牧師。他知道他必須回答這個叫維吉妮亞，歐韓龍 (Virginia O'Hanlon) 八歲小女孩子的問題。

邱契的回信﹐《是的﹐維吉妮亞﹐聖誕老人的確存在》(Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus) 是 1897 年9月21 登載在紐約太陽報上的。這封回信﹐很可能是美國報業史上最有名的一封回信。

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"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.

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記者先生：
　　　
我八歲。我的朋友裏邊，有的小孩說“聖誕老人是沒有的。”
我問爸爸，爸爸說，“去問問太陽報看，報社說有，那就真的有了。”
因此，拜託了，請告訴我，聖誕老人真的有嗎？
　　
維吉妮亞，歐韓龍 紐約市西95街115號
　　
維吉妮亞，讓我們來回答你的問題。
你的朋友說沒有聖誕老人，那是錯的。
在那個孩子的心中，肯定是形成了現時流行的什麼都懷疑的習性。
什麼都懷疑的人，只相信眼睛看得見的東西。
什麼都懷疑的人，是心地狹窄的人。因為心地狹窄，不懂的東西就很多。
雖然那樣，還斷定自己不懂的事情都是謊話。
　　
不過，人的心這個東西，大人也好，小孩也好，本來是非常的小啊。
在我們居住的這個無限廣闊的宇宙裏，我們人的智慧，就象一條小蟲那樣，是的，就象螞蟻一樣小。
要想推測廣闊的、深奧的世界，就需要能夠理解所有事物，瞭解所有事物的巨大的、深邃的智慧。
是的，維吉妮亞，聖誕老人是有的，這絕不是謊話。
在這個世界上，如同有愛，有同情心，有誠實一樣，聖誕老人也確確實實是有的。

你大概也懂得吧，正是充滿這個世界的愛、誠實，才使得你的生活變得美好了，快樂了。
假如沒有了聖誕老人，這個世界該是多麼黑暗，多麼寂寞！
就像沒有你這樣可愛的孩子，世界不可想像一樣，沒有聖誕老人的世界，也是不可想像的。
沒有聖誕老人，減輕我們痛苦的孩子般的信賴，詩，愛情故事，也許全都沒有了。
我們人類能體味到的喜悅，大概只剩下眼睛能看到的，手能摸到的，身體能感覺到的東西了。
並且，兒童時代充滿世界的光明，說不定也會全都消失了。

怎麼說沒有聖誕老人呢？ 　　
不相信有聖誕老人，和不相信有精靈是一樣的。
試試看，耶誕節前夜，讓爸爸給你雇一個偵探，讓他監視一下全紐約的煙囪怎麼樣？也許能抓住聖誕老人噢！
但是，即使看不到從煙囪裏出來的聖誕老人的身影，那能證明什麼呢？
因為，這個世界上最確實的東西，是孩子的眼睛、大人的眼睛都看不見的東西。
維吉妮亞，你看到過精靈在草地上跳舞嗎？肯定沒有吧？雖然如此，也不能說精靈是胡編的瞎話。
這個世界上某些看不見的東西，不能看到的東西，絕不是人們在頭腦中創造出來的，想像出來的。
你把一個玩具洋娃娃的衣服掀開﹐你可以看到什麼會讓洋娃娃叫；
但是，眼睛看不見的覆蓋著世界的大幕，不管有多大力氣的人，不，即使全世界的大力士一起上，也是拉不開的。
只有信賴、想像力、詩、愛、愛情，才能在某一個時刻，把它拉開，
看到大幕後面的，無法形容的美好的、閃閃發光的東西。

那樣美好閃光的東西，難道是人們編造的瞎話嗎？
不，維吉妮亞，那麼確實，那麼永恆的東西，就存在於這個世界之上。

說沒有聖誕老人？
哪兒的話！讓我們高興的是，聖誕老人的確存在。不止如此，他大概永遠不會死亡。
一千年以後，一百萬年以後，聖誕老人也會同現在一樣，讓孩子們的心高興起來。