On Christmas Eve, during the years of the First World War, an unofficial truce was declared between the British and German troops across a battlefield; they erected Christmas trees in their trenches and sang 'Silent Night'. What is it about Christmas?
At that point, the troops perhaps realised that the war was not their war; the people that fought on the battlefield were ultimately brothers in circumstance - the war called them to fight for ideals bigger than the soldier himself, but for a night they chose to recognise that they were all kindred in a way, British or German.
That is what always strikes me about Christmas - the message of brotherhood. There's no time all year to recognise that - religious implications aside - born in a manger or not, in the end we achieve little more than what's in our hearts; and for a day at least, we can encompass even enemies as brothers.
- Adam,
and Merry Christmas to you too.
No comments:
Post a Comment