Christmas Truce

I remember hearing about Civil War soldiers exchanging gifts by tossing them over the front lines. They were that close to each other. I think I was in high school at the time. I know it was one of the politically formative memories of my life. How can they be shooting at each other one minute and then swapping cigars for coffee the next? That took some pondering. And if that person over there can show some humanity to me, isn’t he just like me? Can I be like him? What should be my response? And who exactly wants us to kill each other, anyway? Why? These are the questions that the vultures overhead don’t want us to ask. Just pull the trigger, monkey. 

 

And today you can read stories about southern blacks befriending white supremacists and KKK officers and gradually changing their minds about their own racism. I remember Palestinians and Israelis working together on small, anonymous projects around Jerusalem. Not necessarily big projects, and of course not covered in the media, but successful ones. Worthwhile causes that did good for the community. Christians, Jews, Moslems together. Turning the other cheek seems to be a good long-term strategy. Who’da thunk it?

All this by showing others how human we can be. There’s more humanity in man than animosity. But sometimes it needs to be woken up. Let’s make it a point to wake up in our own small battlegrounds. Would you like some coffee?

https://www.globalresearch.ca/war-and-the-spirit-of-christmas-the-christmas-truce-of-1914/5316722