To the Editor,

The scene opens with Ralphie and his little brother in front of a local department store at the beginning of the kickoff of the Christmas season. White snowflakes fall gently as Ralphie's little brother presses his nose up against the glass. And then it happens. The curtain is drawn and Paradise is opened up to them.

The train whistles and chugs as it circles a mountain and tons of Tonka trucks are revealed; as well as a plethora of precious baby dolls for the girls. Then Ralph sees his Holy Grail of gifts -the Red Ryder BB gun. Immediately, Ralphie  begins his strategy to obtain his dream. He plots, hopes, and dreams of how to obtain his coveted toy.

I believe this story that has been so popular for 40 years now is still so important to adults; because to this day, no matter how old we are; we can feel his enthusiasm, his hope, and his dream. Belief in God is the same way. Jesus said suffer the little children unto me, in which Jesus  is saying do not forbid the children from coming to him. Otherwise, they would not have let them because they were considered an insignificant segment of society. But Jesus loved children and their innocent faith. We are born trusting ourselves, our parents, and God. It is the world that takes this faith away.

But we as adults can still have that same faith.  Like children we have to feel it in our hearts and not try to understand it in our heads.  Hebrews11 says that Faith is confidence in what we Hope for and assurance about what we do not see. That's exactly what Ralph had. He trusted that his good father would bring him his dream against odds. And we know that the odds were against him when both his teacher and his mother said you can't have a BB gun because  "you'll shoot your eye out".

The world tells us there is no God; that everything is about what we see physically, or hold in our hands,  or feel around us daily in the form of stuff. Pascal said that if we don't have faith, we will fill it with something else - whether it's materialism, addictions, social media, belief in the government as our God, or even climate change can become our God. But we as adults have to know that that's not what it is about. There is indeed a better world after this world.  It is a much better, perfect world; far above  our childhood Paradise of toys and things; and it is  known as Heaven. When we believe this with all of our hearts, we can still feel like Ralphie all the time.

Peggy Porter Quinlan

Warwick