Moving the Fronts

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 Starting at Christmas Eve December 24th, 1914 the British and German soldiers in the trenches at Flanders and Normandy began to realize something was going on. Silence ensued as arms were laid down during the realizations that every soldier would be spending Christmas in hell. Lights were being lit in barbed wire, carols were beginning to be sung in native tongues and Christmas Trees began to appear on both fronts and hundreds of soldiers poured out into no-man's land. One can imagine that this was the first time in months the sky was cleared of smoke to see the stars, and the fog of conflict would be clear for a short miracle. Suddenly the truth of their situation became clear. They were men who loved their countries, men who fought to protect their families, men who had no say to move the front back or forward by so much as an inch, they were not enemies, not really. It seems that it is easier to harbor hatred when the stakes are lower, and great violence and loss can serve to clarify certain universal truths. 

Abraham Lincoln spoke at his inaugural address before the single bloodiest conflict where Conferederate or Union millions of Americans were killed and casualties of war among brothers. He pleaded with his constituents to realize our commonalities in the face of open war, 

" We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

We are not facing a Civil War yet as some folks have asserted by the fringe of the internet, but we are still divided by several different ideologies and people that we support. I respect everyone who supports a different political view, although I do not respect bad behavior sanctioned by those differences. We are headed into the Christmas Season now and one of the principle themes of Christmas is peace among men. While we are currently fighting among-st each other for respect and space and being heard, I believe that there is some Christmas magic left in the world for this year. We made it through a difficult year and without making assumptions about whether next year will be better, maybe we can move the fronts of our culture war a bit, maybe we can move out into no man's land and share some eggnog virtually, maybe we can find others more important than our agenda for their lives. We can move the fronts to understand each others common humanity again. Nothing is at stake if we love each other, everything is at stake if we refuse to do so. 

Remember our children are not only watching how we treat those that agree with us and those that are good to us, they are watching how we treat those we consider our "enemies." They will treat others with the same sense of retribution when they don't align themselves with them. If we want children who can understand, work with, and compromise with others we have to do it first, and what better time than Christmas.

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