We need a "Christmas Truce" ala 12/24/1914

[cherokeeprogressive]

Oh, I know times are different. Back then, men who had their very lives invested in demonizing and killing those on the other side used Christmas as a reason to come together across battlefields and shake hands, speak of home, trade small gifts, and even exchange addresses. They actually put down their guns, left their trenches, and trusted "the other" not to kill them as they approached with good intentions. To think that it all started with the Germans placing candles on trees, and singing Stille Nacht. At one point during the night, the Germans and Brits were signing the same carols in different languages. Each time I wrap my mind around that, I get misty. I swear I do.

Today we use Christmas to start wars, even though the only bullets and artillery we use on each other are hateful words and personal insults.

Come on DU. We claim to be on the same side. We claim to work toward the same goals. We claim to have the same core beliefs. If those things are true, let's put them aside for a short while. Just a short while. Do we have that within us? Soldiers with an extreme hatred for one another were able to do it for 2 days in two consecutive years at Christmas. Would that we could put our differences aside the same way, if even for three days.

We all know it's a given that the Senate version of HCR is going to pass before Christmas. No amount of argument is going to change that. No amount of chest pounding will change it. No amount of "We win, You lose" is going to make a single bit of difference. All those things do is harden hearts and close minds. Let's at least agree on this one thing: Good or bad, the Senate version of HCR will be voted on and passed before Christmas. So, I propose we stop arguing about that particular issue.

After Christmas, when the next thing we look forward to is getting the bill through conference, we can drag out the bullets, artillery, and poisonous gasses once again and go back to slaying each other with hateful words and insults.

[Aramchek]

1. there are alot of Scrooges around here. Do we have enough Ghosts of Christmas to go around?

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. It doesn't take the Ghost of Christmas. Past, Present, or Future. All it takes is a willingness

to set differences aside and agree on the obvious. The Senate version of HCR is now a given. I don't care whether a particular person supports it or not (and I don't, if for no other reason than what seems like bribes to get votes), it's going to pass. Chest thumping, finger pointing, insult hurling, and personal attacks will not change that.

All I'm asking for is a little civility.

Sometimes I HATE being a DU Junkie. It's a total downer, and right now, I'm not especially down literally or figuratively. A couple of hours in front of DU lately though never fails to change at least part of that claim.

[T Wolf]

3. If you've been to Flanders Field, you really get an idea for what REAL warfare is like

and the toll it takes on those forced to do the fighting. The reality is that the soldiers had to be transferred to other battle sights because they could no longer kill the people across no man's land.

I came out of there, wondering how in the world people EVER go along with orders to kill each other. Walking over the trenches is mind-numbing in its impact.

But that was almost a century ago and here we still are, killing each other at the command of leaders who would never put themselves in a similar situation.

Life, and death, go on.

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Flander's Field and the USS Arizona Memorial are two places on my "bucket list".

I'm sure it will be impossible to keep tearing up at either place. I imagine that at the USS Arizona it will be hardest, having been a Sailor myself. I bawled like a baby, walking through Arlington National Cemetery.

[Thothmes]

10. If you get a chance

Visit fort Doumont at Verdun. One of the gun pits there is used as an ossiary. Bones collected from the old Verdun battlefield are intered there. It is estimated that bones of over 90,000 men fill that pit.

[jgraz]

5. Does that mean we can actually start shooting at each other next week?

:hide:

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. Figuratively, isn't that what we do already? Wanna see my scars? LOL

[Clio the Leo]

7. If we kept in mind who our TRUE enemies were......

.... we wouldn't even have to have truces. ;)

[spoony]

8. Best post I've read in a long, long time.

"Each time I wrap my mind around that, I get misty. I swear I do."

Me, too. I've been meaning to read Silent Night, a book on Amazon I found about it. I think you just inspired me to quit procrastinating about it.

And you're totally spot on about HCR. Not only does beating each other up accomplish nothing, even when it does go to conference the people who need to hear it are on that Hill, not amongst ourselves.

Cheers, and Happy Christmas Truce.

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. Thanks spoony. Happy Christmas to yourself and those you love.

Glad I could help. Tell me about the book after you read it.

I wish there were some way I could have witnessed the feeling in No Man's Land on that Christmas Eve back in '14. I swear just thinking about it gives me a hitch in my breath. Hearing the Brits sing Silent Night while the Germans sang Stille Nacht would have been unforgettable and something I'd have told all my grandkids about.

Maybe some recording artists should record that as a message of peace... Silent Night and Stille Nacht sung together.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

11. I'm certain it has been recorded. I first heard about it on

public radio and they were playing the songs.


Looks like John Mc Cutcheon recorded a song about it. This must be what I heard on the radio

http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Solstice-John-McCutcheon/dp/B0000002G8