I recall reading the original some years ago and thinking that it was a well considered and mature handling of the real value of myth in human culture.
I also believed that Virginia was fictitious and the fundamental message of the editorial was strictly - if implicitly - for adults only, and not to be taken literally.
Reading it now, albeit having been primed by McGowan's commentary, and trying to read it as someone actually addressing a real child, it just seems like the very sort of thing Christ would rather the person who did it tied a millstone around their own neck before taking a quick dip in the sea. (In before "How evangelical!")
(Side note: fortunately my own parents never had the time or bother for such gweilo silliness... I only had myself to blame when I got pressured into making a show of believing when I was six, and rationalized the folly away as Pascal's Wager at work (if right and believe: extra presents; if any other combination: no extra presents).)
tl;dr McGowan totally ruined this thing for me and I am better for it
I admit that what follows these words is grossly inappropriate and apologize for them.
What that comment describes, however, I still believe comes off as precisely the sort of condescending wording you should never use while addressing children.
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I also believed that Virginia was fictitious and the fundamental message of the editorial was strictly - if implicitly - for adults only, and not to be taken literally.
Reading it now, albeit having been primed by McGowan's commentary, and trying to read it as someone actually addressing a real child, it just seems like the very sort of thing Christ would rather the person who did it tied a millstone around their own neck before taking a quick dip in the sea. (In before "How evangelical!")
(Side note: fortunately my own parents never had the time or bother for such gweilo silliness... I only had myself to blame when I got pressured into making a show of believing when I was six, and rationalized the folly away as Pascal's Wager at work (if right and believe: extra presents; if any other combination: no extra presents).)
tl;dr McGowan totally ruined this thing for me and I am better for it
no subject
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus
no subject
I admit that what follows these words is grossly inappropriate and apologize for them.
What that comment describes, however, I still believe comes off as precisely the sort of condescending wording you should never use while addressing children.