Believe

Whenever one of my kids walks up to me and asks, "Is _____real?" whether its fairies or Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or giant mutating frogs, I simply ask, "Do you think they're real?" Nine times out of ten, the answer is an adamant, "yes." and so I say, "Then they are."

I know without a doubt that it is our beliefs that make things real. Santa is a very real person to them, to them he is real. Certain phobias don't make sense to most of the world, but to that one person who honestly believes in their fear, its very real to them. I find that one of the things I loathe most in this world is a scoffer. Someone who says, "well thats stupid" or "they aren't real" This shows a huge lack of empathy. Empathy is something that makes us very human. It allows us to put ourselves in someone elses shoes and try to understand where they are coming from. Without this ability in life we are crippled and closeminded. Nothing new can be taught to us, nothing different can be introduced because we cannot see past our own reality. Sometimes, life is so much more beautiful if we but for a moment can become apart of someone else. So at Christmas time, I believe in Santa, right along with my class, and at Easter I just know the bunny will pay a visit. Sometimes on the playground I must protect my class from giant mutating frogs, and dragons, and often when they are sound asleep at naptime, the sleep fairy comes to visit with a sticker...and when they wake up and look at me with wonder in their eyes, I know that anything in this World is possible. If I will just believe.