Holiday humbug

Regarding the editorial "Yes, Virginia" (Dec. 24): You have reprinted the letter, written 112 years ago, to a little girl called Virginia, now long dead. This appears every year at this time, and everyone calls it a wonderful letter. I would like to express, very strongly, a contrary opinion.

Virginia was 8 years old, as she stated in her letter. Further, her father told her that anything in the The Sun (the paper to which Virginia wrote) was true. And she wrote, I quote: "Please tell me the truth: Is there a Santa Claus?" This is a small, puzzled girl, asking for a truthful, straightforward answer, requiring a yes or no. Instead, she receives a long, convoluted essay, in a turgid, metaphorical style, completely unsuitable for a little girl, and obviously directed at adults, for the purpose of showing the writer to be clever, sensitive and so on -- very self-serving.

And the whole thing is just one long, direct lie. Is there any adult who actually believes in Santa Claus? How can parents, who buy the presents, wrap them up, put them in stockings, etc., possibly believe in him? I agree that Santa Claus is a pleasant fable, on the level of the Tooth Fairy, which I enjoy as great fun, strictly on that level, and it is perfectly acceptable for very small children. But when a child has grown to the age of actually thinking, and wanting answers, it is utterly damnable to give her a rigmarole of direct lies, when asked specifically for truth.

So why do people, for more than a century, regard this horrible letter as wonderful and sensitive?

BILL GALBRAITH
North Point Breeze