Hello everyone –
Quotemail returns after a monthlong hiatus with three weekly
installments to celebrate the impending arrival of the hollydaze season. But
first, before the celebration, a brief reflection and a special poem. In
mid-November, I learned that V.A.V., my first peer mentor at the University of
Illinois, had passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. To honor
her memory, here is a poem that is very close to my heart, which encapsulates
the philosophy of life that we both share. On November 2, 2018, I had the honor
to recite this poem at the gravesite of University of Illinois President Edmund
J. James, in the company of my amazing student intern, M.E.F.; it was a deeply
moving experience that I shall never forget.
“A Psalm of Life”
(What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist)
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, however pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, — act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God overhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Moving right along to the hollydaze portion of this week’s
Quotemail, I have two pieces to share about the Yuletide gift-giver who is most
familiar in North America – Santa Claus. Despite the misappropriation of this
beloved figure by commercial interests each December, Santa’s core message
remains the same from one generation to the next, and it’s a message that isn’t
limited to a single holiday or religion or culture or nation. Here’s how Fred
Astaire summarized the message of Santa Claus in the closing narration of the
classic Rankin-Bass holiday special, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
(1970):
“But what would happen if we all tried to be like Santa
and learned to give, as only he can give: of ourselves, our talents, our love
and our hearts? Maybe we could all learn Santa’s beautiful lesson, and maybe
there would finally be peace on Earth and good will toward men.”
First of all, I’d like to share with you the most famous
newspaper editorial in American history – to remind us all that we have a
wonderful opportunity to share our stories, insights, and encouragement with a
world that stands in desperate need of HOPE. And now (drumroll, please) –
without further delay (cue the spotlight) – here’s the most famous newspaper
editorial in American history!
“Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus”
Source: http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
[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.]
“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.
Selections from My Remarks at the ACES Honors Symposium
Friday, April 13th, 2007
[Editor’s Note: Here are some of my own reflections on the
message of Santa Claus – a message for all people, all over the world,
especially for children, their families, and their caregivers.]
In L. Frank
Baum’s classic holiday tale, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
(1902), we meet a young man named Claus, a human foundling raised by the
immortal denizens of an enchanted forest. In his young manhood, he chose to
dwell among mortal humans because he wanted to share the joys of his own happy
childhood with the children of humankind. At first he simply played, sang, and
shared stories with the children who lived near his home in the Laughing Valley
of Hohaho, but afterward, he “invented” the first toys and spread the joy of
giving Yuletide gifts around the world. Claus obtained endless life within the
circles of the world, when the immortals who had raised him endowed him with
the Mantle of Immortality. They gave Claus such a momentous gift because Claus
had seen that the lives of mortal children in that long-ago time were filled
with drudgery and misery, and he had determined to correct this injustice by
sharing with them the fruits of his experience – namely, that a happy
childhood, filled with kindness and giving, could lay the foundation for a
better world when the children grew up.
Baum summarizes
so eloquently the lessons to be drawn from his mythical biography of Santa
Claus that they require no further comment on my part. He writes:
Everything perishes except the world itself and its keepers.
But while life lasts, everything on Earth has its use. The wise seek ways to be
helpful to the world, for the helpful ones are sure to live again. … Yet every
man has his mission, which is to leave the world better, in some way, than he
found it. (Book I, Chapters 6 & 7)
[Santa Claus] brought toys to the children because they were
little and helpless, and because he loved them. He knew that the best of
children were sometimes naughty, and that the naughty ones were often good. It
is the way with children, the world over, and he would not have changed their
natures had he possessed the power to do so. And that is how our Claus
became Santa Claus. It is possible for any man, by good deeds, to enshrine
himself as a Saint in the hearts of the people. (Book II, Chapter 9)
It is true that great warriors and mighty kings and clever
scholars of that day were often spoken of by the people; but no one of them was
so greatly beloved as Santa Claus, because none other was so unselfish as to
devote himself to making others happy. For a generous deed lives longer than a
great battle or a king's decree or a scholar's essay, because it spreads and
leaves its mark on all nature and endures through many generations. (Book II,
Chapter 11)
“In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy
child,” says good old Santa Claus; and if he had his way, the children would
all be beautiful, for all would be happy. (Book III, Chapter 3)
Until next time –
Rob
