Yes, Virginia
December 19, 2019
As a child, I always looked forward to Christmas, like most kids. I wanted to get everything I asked for- no matter what extravagant demands I’d make. That’s honestly all I thought about, until one day my eyes were “opened,” if you will, about the details surrounding Santa.
So, needless to say, I was pretty sad about all of this. Nine-year- old me was thinking about all those previous Christmases and how this one would be different because there had been an obvious change regarding Santa.
So, I kind of accepted this and moved on, with a bit of difficulty, and focused on other Christmas things I could do that would still give me the same joy I had always felt. That’s when I discovered the movie Yes, Virginia. If you’ve never seen it, the movie details the true story of a little girl named Virginia who’s skeptical whether Santa Claus is fact or fiction. So, she writes a letter to the newspaper and gets an awesome response back. When I discovered this, I was overjoyed.
She was a little girl, just like me, literally with the same name as me and in the same predicament. This movie was my life saver, and for all those non-believers out there, I’d like to write you my own Yes, Virginia letter. So here it goes.
Dear reader, the definition of faith is believing in something even if it may not be there. We can all look at the world and make a choice, whether to believe in stuff that can make us happy and end up being worthwhile, or to turn up our noses at everything that seems stupid and fake.
If we were to do that, we’d have to ask ourselves why we tell children about Santa in the first place. Why would we trick them just to have them one day figure out it’s false? I hope we tell them about Santa and the Easter Bunny to give them joy and make them see that life is full of good things if they look for them and believe in those things. The same could be said for love.
Are we supposed to stop believing in love just because we can’t physically see it? There’s not a bubble that pops up over people saying “love,” so that means it doesn’t exist, right?
This is why believing is so crucial, in anything. As humans we need this belief, this hope to get us through life’s ups and downs, so whatever it is for you, let it at least be meaningful. Just promise me this final thing: let it be something worth holding out for, that you will keep close by your heart. That belief will take you farther than you will ever imagine. Just believe. Love, Virginia.
