Virginia, Prancer...and the rest of us........

Does anyone remember the movie, "Prancer?" 1991- Sam Elliott starred as a widower trying to hang on to his apple orchard while also raising two children. His nine year old daughter, Jessie, is very headstrong and saves a reindeer who was shot in the woods who she believes is Prancer. She goes to great lengths to keep it a secret from her hard nosed father, all the while working to pay for the oats it needs. She writes a letter to a department store Santa, telling him to get in touch with the real Santa and let him know where to find Prancer on Christmas Eve. Suffice it to say, although a simple film, the ending is very much a moral story of how much a father will give up to keep the daughter he loves. The last ten minutes make the film most memorable. She tells her dad she wants nothing for Christmas after he announces he may lose the farm someday and has very little to give. In return, she says all she needs is to have him in her life and world.


 

 I cry every time I see this film. The simplicity and honesty are what make it enjoyable. In this time of the "gimmees," it is refreshing to see that humility still exists. The central point of the film is "believe." Believe that all will be well. Have faith  in the friends and family you have around you. Trust that you are exactly where you are supposed to be at this time. And no matter what, when the chips are down, those who love you will stay by your side, no matter what.

Jessie's favorite story is "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa," which she is seen reading to the reindeer. I have printed it here. Read it, learn from it, let it fill your heart. (Pay attention to the last two paragraphs!)

"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 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.