A Salute to the Winter Stars -- and Mars!

Hello everyone –

 

Here at last is my long-delayed tribute to the winter stars, including a salute to the NASA team that put the Perseverance rover on Mars last week!

 

FROM THE ORPHIC HYMNS

Editor’s Note: The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their prescientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

 

Orphic Hymn #6: To the Stars

With holy voice I call the stars on high,

Pure sacred lights and genii of the sky.

Celestial stars, the progeny of Night,

In whirling circles beaming far your light,

Refulgent rays around the heavens ye throw,

Eternal fires, the source of all below.

With flames significant of Fate ye shine,

And aptly rule for men a path divine.

In seven bright zones ye run with wandering flames,

And heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:

With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright

Forever shining through the veil of Night.

Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fires!

Propitious shine on all my just desires;

These sacred rites regard with conscious rays,

And end our works devoted to your praise.

 

FROM THE POEMS OF H. P. LOVECRAFT (1890-1937)

Editor’s Note: H. P. Lovecraft is regarded by literary scholars as the “Edgar Allan Poe” of the 20^th century. He was an imaginative author of “weird fiction” – a genre that combines science fiction, fantasy, and horror – and also an accomplished poet. His work has inspired, among others, the creators/writers of Babylon 5 and Doctor Who.

 

“Polaris” (1920)

 

Slumber, watcher, till the spheres,

Six and twenty thousand years

Have revolved, and I return

To the spot where now I burn.

Other stars anon shall rise

To the axis of the skies;

Stars that soothe and stars that bless

With a sweet forgetfulness:

Only when my round is o’er

Shall the past disturb thy door.

 

“Winter Stars” (1920)

By Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

 

I went out at night alone;

The young blood flowing beyond the sea

Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings —

I bore my sorrow heavily.

 

But when I lifted up my head

From shadows shaken on the snow,

I saw Orion in the east

Burn steadily as long ago.

 

From windows in my father’s house,

Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,

I watched Orion as a girl

Above another city’s lights.

 

Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,

The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,

All things are changed, save in the east

The faithful beauty of the stars.

 

“Where My Heart Will Take Me”

(Theme from STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE)

Lyrics by Diane Warren

 

It's been a long road, getting from there to here.

It's been a long time, but my time is finally near. 

And I will see my dream come alive at last. I will touch the sky.

And they're not gonna hold me down no more, no they're not gonna change my mind.

 

Cause I've got faith of the heart.

I'm going where my heart will take me. 

I've got faith to believe. I can do anything. 

I've got strength of the soul. And no one's gonna bend or break me. 

I can reach any star. I've got faith, faith of the heart.

 

You can watch the opening sequence of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE here, featuring the theme song as performed by Russell Watson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPn-lTytfGo

 

Until next time – keep looking up! 😊

 

Rob

 

Happy Lunar New Year on Abe Lincoln's Birthday!

Hello everyone –

 

Next Friday, February 12, marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year in the traditional Chinese calendar. The New Year (or Spring Festival) usually occurs on the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice (December 21 or 22). And so, on Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday holiday, the Year of the Ox will begin as the Chinese calendar year 4719 dawns in East Asia and around the globe.

 

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, I have selected two poems for you to enjoy. “Ring Out, Wild Bells” is a New Year poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and “Kubla Khan” (by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) celebrates the splendor of medieval China under the aegis of Kublai Khan (reigned 1260-1294), the grandson of Genghis Khan. Readers may find Tennyson’s sentiments especially relevant as we move forward together after a contentious political transition and continue to fight the global Covid-19 pandemic. A beautiful musical rendition of “Ring Out, Wild Bells” by the Crofts Family can be found @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTjo62ehrd4.

 

“Ring Out, Wild Bells” (1850)

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

 

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

 

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

 

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

 

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

 

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

 

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

 

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

 

“Kubla Khan” a/k/a “Xanadu” (1816)

By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

 

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

 

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

 

But O, that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As ever beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her daemon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced;

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:

And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:

And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

 

The shadow of the dome of pleasure

Floated midway on the waves;

Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

 

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me,

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight ‘twould win me,

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

 

Happy Lunar New Year to one and all!

 

Rob 😊

 

Celebrating Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Our American Democracy

Hello everyone –

 

As we reflect on the recent peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, I would like to share with you some classic reflections on the nature of the American Republic and its unfolding principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Growing steadily through the decades, and not without setbacks, from one generation to the next, we continue to cherish and increase our understanding of the ideals of unity in diversity, liberty, and justice for all. Our perception and practice of these core values of our Republic have expanded over time, and no doubt these will continue to grow as the future unfolds before us. Our society is not perfect – but we are learning and growing up into our ideals while the rest of the world is watching and learning from us.

 

Excerpt from George Washington's Letter to the Jewish Community of Newport, Rhode Island (1790)

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

 

“Columbia the Gem of the Ocean” (1843)

By David T. Shaw & Thomas A. Becket, Sr.

Editor’s Note: This patriotic song served as an unofficial national anthem for the United States until 1931. It was especially popular during the Civil War Era (1861-1865).

 

1. O Columbia! the gem of the ocean,

The home of the brave and the free,

The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,

A world offers homage to thee;

Thy mandates make heroes assemble,

When Liberty’s form stands in view;

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white, and blue.

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white and blue.

 

2. When war winged its wide desolation,

And threatened the land to deform,

The ark then of freedom’s foundation,

Columbia rode safe through the storm;

With her garlands of victory around her,

When so proudly she bore her brave crew;

With her flag proudly waving before her,

The boast of the red, white and blue.

The boast of the red, white and blue,

The boast of the red, white, and blue,

With her flag proudly floating before her,

The boast of the red, white and blue.

 

3. The Union, the Union forever,

Our glorious nation’s sweet hymn,

May the wreaths it has won never wither,

Nor the stars of its glory grow dim,

May the service united never sever,

But they to their colors prove true.

The Army and Navy forever,

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue.

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,

The Army and Navy forever,

Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

 

“The New Colossus” a/k/a “The Statue of Liberty Sonnet” (1883)

By Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 

“E pluribus unum.” = “Out of many, one.” (Founding Motto of the United States)

 

“Longe vivat Democratia!” = “Long live Democracy!” 😊

 

Rob

 

Reflections from "Ulysses"

 

Hello everyone –

 

Quotemail returns from its annual hollydaze break for a new year that I hope will be happier and healthier for us all. I had been planning to share some poems about the stars and the night sky this time, but events that shocked our nation (and the entire world, too) took place on Wednesday that inspired me to strike a timelier, more reflective tone with the first Quotemail of 2021. Here, in its entirety, is the classic poem “Ulysses,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – one of my all-time favorite poems, which reminds us that it’s never too late to begin again, to explore new frontiers, and to keep on striving to reach a newer world.

 

“Ulysses” (Published in 1842)

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

 

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink

Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known — cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honored of them all, —

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains; but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

 

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the scepter and the isle,

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill

This labor, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

 

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me,

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.

Death closes all; but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

 

Until next time –

Rob

 

"Ichigu wo terasu." = “Illuminate one corner.” -- Saicho (767-822 CE)

 

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, any written communication to or from University employees regarding University business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

RHC Hollydaze Quotemail #3

Hello everyone –

 

As the year 2020 draws to a close, I’d like to share two poems/songs with you that I’ve found to be especially meaningful this holiday season, both for myself personally and for the human family as well.

 

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” (1863)

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

 

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

and wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

 

“THIS IS MY SONG” (1934)

Text by Lloyd Stone (1912-1993) & Georgia Harkness (1891-1974)

Tune: “FINLANDIA” (1899-1900) by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

 

1. This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

 

2. My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

O hear my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

 

3. May truth and freedom come to every nation;

May peace abound where strife has raged so long;

That each may seek to love and build together,

A world united, righting every wrong;

A world united in its love for freedom,

Proclaiming peace together in one song.

 

Wishing all Quotemail subscribers a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season, with a fantastic 2021 to follow! 😊

 

Rob

 

RHC Hollydaze Quotemail #2

Hello everyone –

Yesterday, December 13^th, marked the 13^th anniversary of my first-ever visit to Japan House. In honor of this auspicious occasion, I’m reprinting an article that I had adapted for the Illinois Administrative Professionals’ February 2015 newsletter, in my capacity as the then Chair of its Legacy of Leadership Committee.

I would like to encourage all listmembers to visit Japan House’s website to learn about all the excellent virtual programs that they are offering online during this academic year like no other. Japan House and its wonderful staff continue to carry out their intercultural educational mission with videos and resources to enrich our lives and our appreciation for the numinosity that can be found in our everyday world.

 

February 2015 Leadership Reflection:

Leadership and a Cup of Tea

                Leaders live in a fast-paced, multi-tasking world, full of responsibilities and split-second decision-making. Therefore, it’s important for leaders to take some time away (every now and then) to slow down, stop, and reflect on their circumstances and how they can use their leadership skills and position to make the world a better place, not only in the present, but also in the future. An excellent way to cultivate this type of reflection is to learn about – and experience – chado (the way of tea) for oneself in an authentic setting. Fortunately, at the University of Illinois, the way of tea can be experienced at Japan House through its regular schedule of Japanese tea ceremonies.

                What can leaders learn from the Japanese tea ceremony? The greatest tea master in Japanese history, Sen Rikyu, described the ideals of chado over 400 years ago: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. The core concept behind the tea ceremony is the realization of the principle, “Ichigo, ichie” (which means “one life, one opportunity” in Japanese). This means that we should learn how to recognize and savor the numinosity in each moment of our lives, because each moment is truly unique and will never come again. The following article, which is reprinted (in a condensed and updated form) from my Presidential column in the IAP’s April 2008 newsletter, describes my own first experience of the Japanese tea ceremony and how it has impacted my life ever since.

 

A Visit to Japan House by RHC

                In December 2007, ACES James Scholar Shannon O’Laughlin invited me to visit Japan House to take part in a tea ceremony hosted by its Director, Professor Kimiko Gunji. Shannon, a longtime member of the James Scholar Activities & Communications Team (JS-ACT), was enrolled in Professor Gunji’s ARTD 209 (Chado: The Way of Tea) course during the fall semester. According to its catalog listing:

In this course, the study of Zen aesthetics and philosophy, as well as special rituals and equipment for serving a bowl of tea will be introduced. Serving a bowl of tea is an ordinary act, yet in the tea ceremony this very ordinary act has been elevated into an extraordinary art form. When one wishes to serve a bowl of tea in the sincerest and the most pleasant manner, one has to pay detailed attention to each movement, and the recipient is to enjoy a bowl of tea not only with the palate but also with all other senses. Thus, both host and guest can enrich life through a bowl of tea. Through this course experience, it is hoped that students realize that any simple and ordinary act can be extraordinary and can contribute to their success in all human endeavors. One of the most important objectives of this course is to learn what it means to be a fine human being. (Archived @ http://japanhouse.art.illinois.edu/en/education/university/chado)

Shannon was eager to share her experience of chado with me, so I was pleased to accept her invitation.

                On a cloudy Thursday afternoon [12/13/2007], we arrived at Japan House, which is located at 2000 South Lincoln Avenue in Urbana (not far from the College of Veterinary Medicine). As Shannon and I hung up our coats and removed our shoes in the cloakroom, we (along with the other guests) were greeted by a Japan House volunteer: Dr. Morton Weir, Chancellor Emeritus of the Urbana campus. Dr. Weir gave us a tour of the house (including the tearooms) and showed us (through the large glass windows) the gardens that surround it (a traditional Japanese garden on one side and a Zen rock garden on the other). We then entered the classroom where academic courses are taught; there, we were introduced to Professor Gunji and received an overview of the tea ceremony before it began.

                The Japanese tea ceremony is a beautiful and complex art form that has been developing in East Asia for over a millennium. Professor Gunji, as our host, prepared the tea – a special variety of green tea called matcha, imported from Japan. Before the tea was served, however, we each received and ate a small sweet; then, after the tea had been prepared with a bamboo whisk and other ceremonial utensils, tea was served to each guest in a bowl decorated with traditional designs (such as flowers). It is customary for the guests to take a few moments to admire the artwork on the bowl before drinking the tea. We then proceeded to savor the matcha tea, which was delicious! J

                The tea ceremony created an atmosphere that was both contemplative and mindful. It was wonderful to participate in a time-honored ritual that opens the door to new levels of intercultural understanding. Each portion of the ceremony was conducted gracefully and graciously by our host, and although the basic form of the ceremony is fixed, it was unhurried, and the format invited each participant to watch, learn, and appreciate the ceremony in every detail. One lesson (among many) that I took away with me from the tea ceremony is that “simple” things, such as enjoying tea with friends, can have a numinous beauty all their own, and so we need to keep our eyes open for this “everyday numinosity” lest we miss out on the enchantment that it can bring into our daily lives.

In this photo from 12/13/2007, taken by Japan House staff, Yours Truly is at left, and Shannon is to my right, as we receive bowls of tea during the ceremony from Professor Gunji.

 

Webliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony (Japanese Tea Ceremony)
• http://japanhouse.illinois.edu (Japan House)
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tea.htm (The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura [1863-1913])
  

May the calendar keep bringing Happy Hollydaze to you! 😊

Rob

RHC Hollydaze Quotemail #1

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 13^th, 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