Believing in the unbelievable
Sure, I still believe in Santa Claus, and I don't care if you have a problem with that.
This Christmas season brings both delight and sadness to our family. Our older son has already given up his faith that the fat man is coming down our chimney. We are in protection mode for our younger daughter, keeping her belief alive not only in Santa, but also in Rudy, the elf who hides himself, wanting to be found from somewhere in our house every night from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.
I recall a discussion from years ago when my high school class of 11th-graders were asked to remember the time and place when their anticipation of the jolly man's sleigh landing upon their houses was erased from their minds forever.
"Some kids at grammar school told me how stupid it was to believe in Santa," said one student.
"My parents told me when I was 5 years old. They didn't want to lie and have me believe in something that was not real, " said another.
"My older brother laughed and told me when I was opening a present I thought was from Santa. I couldn't stop crying on Christmas Day," recalled a girl who wiped a new tear from her eye.
Don't believe in Santa? Well, then, let's add aliens, ghosts, psychics, reincarnated souls, the Easter bunny, unicorns, dragons, Superman, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, mermaids, and throw in angels and spirits onto the list of stupid things to believe in. Millions of people don't see their hypocrisy because they won't believe in anything they cannot see with one significant exception.
God.
Let's throw some logic into the illogical. If God exists, then why can't anything from that list above exist? What about the human soul? No scientific examination will identify the soul as a body part, and yet the soul exists to those who believe in God. Did God give us the ability to believe in him only, but in nothing else that we cannot see with our eyes?
Believing in what we can't see is called faith. In this month's National Geographic magazine, a story is told about a man who fell ill during a funeral in California. To keep the man from falling into the underworld with the ill-reputed deceased, a shaman sacrificed the soul of a pig in exchange. The ill man placed his faith into the shaman and recovered. Shamans are people believed to be able to communicate with good and evil spirits and are allowed to work with patients in hospitals in several U.S. states.
The article also points out another medical phenomenon. In an experiment, when unknowing patients were given placebos instead of actual medication, they felt better anyway and some were even cured, proving that once the mind holds onto a strong belief in something considered fake, it becomes real.
So let's put all of this into an equation. Faith exists. Faith means God exists. Therefore anything that cannot be seen or have physical matter can possibly exist.
If I believe in Santa Claus, then he's real to me. Anyone who does not hold this belief would be foolish to try to prove to me he doesn't exist.
How limiting and boring it is to only believe in the physical world. How limitless and wondrous it is to believe in the existence of what we never see. In 1897, an editor of the New York Sun wrote a reply to a question from an eight year old girl who asked him about whether or not Santa was real.
"Not believe in Santa Claus!" He wrote. "You might as not believe in fairies … 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. …"
The editor then says that we might as well not believe in faith, or in love and romance for that matter. Finally, to remove the little girl's worries, he writes, "No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever … 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
Move aside, naysayers and doubters. With pure joy in our hearts, our daughter and I will once again put out cookies and milk for Santa, and If I know her, she'll toss in a couple of carrots for his reindeer, too.
Rich Strack can be reached at katehep11@gmail.com.
