Christmas in the Trenches
There was a true story about World War I, when soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting, after they heard the other side singing Christmas songs, realizing that some of those songs were the same, only in another language, just as the people on each end of the rifle.
After a few days the soldiers under threat of court martial were forced by their superiors to resume fighting, but still for just a moment they had seen each others common humanity.
Later on in this and in all future wars, the rulers of war made sure that the enemy was sufficiently demonized, so that this realisation would no longer come easy.
Once again we are celebrating Christmas in the trenches. Those trenches are not dug by soldiers nor are they made of mud.
They are trenches in our minds dug by enemies with a hatred for humanity.
They are the enemies who never fight or bleed in war, enemies of all sides and still also our rulers.
But the bombs and bullets they force on us are real and so is our blood and our deaths.
While this time the people in the other trenches might not sing the same songs, they still often play the same sports and they, like us, have fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.
Like us, they want to live.
And like us they are loved by somebody.
And like us they don´t want to be maimed or killed or see their loved ones suffer and die.
Remember, just as like on each side of the rifle, the people on each side of the missile are the same as well.
Listen to this touching song by John McCutcheon about the incident in WWI.
My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.
I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys!'' each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singing bloody well, you know!'' my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
``God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'' struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht.'' "Tis `Silent Night','' says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
"There's someone coming toward us!'' the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?''
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore
My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same
We all were able to discern this 'obvious' truth.
That todays so called 'democraticly elected' leaders may make the wars, but they never paricipate in them like the old Kings did, and conseqently millions die without ever knowing why, or if they do know why and that the are dieing/killing losing limbs and maiming for nothing, there is nothing thy can do about it. They are locked in....apparently this is 'freedom'.
Why any man would want to fight for these pigs is suites is beyond me, and whyh wouldwant to send their own flesh and blood and youth to go fight on foreign shores is beyond me, to become brutalised by war, whle people like Bush, Wolfowitz, Perle, Blair all get rich never having faced a bullet in war. It is digusting.
UB40 (British pop group) Song Prsent Arms:
You got no job you got no pay
Join the military, sign today
They`ll take you off to fight on foreign shores
You`ll be your mother`s pride and joy
Her armed and dangerous golden boy
A uniformed hero that shows no fear
The khaki ranks of flesh and steel
Learning how to smile and kill
They`ll teach you to ignore the screams and tears