I have here a letter from 9-year-old Tasha, in Dallas, Texas. The letter is written in a childish hand. Purple ink. Curly print. The penmanship is excellent.

“Dear Sean,” the letter begins, “Is Santa really real? My dad says he is but my brother and his friends says he isn’t.”

Dear Tasha, first off, thank you for your letter. Let me start by saying that, (a) Santa is real, and (b) your brother is a dork for not believing.

I do not mean this statement about your brother in a derogatory way. Lots of people are dorks. They cannot help it.

Take me. I am a dork. Neither am I an authority on this particular subject of Santa Claus. In fact, when I was a kid, I once took an IQ test in school, and do you know what I got on the test? Drool.

Even so, this world-class dork knows one thing for certain: Santa is real.

I can absolutely guarantee this. And I would bet the farm on it.

Although I CAN see how some people would doubt the existence of such a figure. It would be easy for a citizen of our present universe to disbelieve in the timeless traits of Saint Nick.

His attributes like kindness and selfless generosity are concepts that have gone out the window in our popular culture.

In the world we live in, crime and hatred are running rampant.

The War in Ukraine, for example, has created the world’s largest human displacement crisis.

And as of yesterday, 19,000 Palestinians and Israelis have died in the Israel-Hamas War.

In South Sudan, they are still recovering from a Civil War. This year, more South Sudanese than ever before—7.8 million—will face crisis levels of food insecurity in 2023.

In Afghanistan, an entire population is pushed into poverty due to a nation’s economic collapse.

How can Santa live in a world like this?

Well, the problem is, Tasha, that you and I are trying to understand the depths of reality with tiny, pea-sized human brains. Compared to the vast truth embedded within the fabric of our cosmos, we are all mere insects. Our brains are simply not capable of getting it.

But Santa? He is the realest thing there has ever been. Not because I have met him. But because of what he represents.

Santa Claus embodies pure, uncut kindness. Selfless goodness. Total acceptance. Goodwill toward men. Benevolence. Decency. And unconditional love. The realest things there are in this world.

These are the elements that keep the world turning. These are the virtues the news media would lead you to believe are nonexistent.

But in fact, they aren’t. These truths are present on every street corner, every playground, and in every child’s heart.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Tasha. No. Ten times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.