New Year's Essay
... with thanks to Steve Kremer
New Year's Essay
... with thanks to Steve Kremer
New Year's Day in the Community of St. Joan of Arc began with a 10:00 am Mass in the Gym. It was a quiet and subdued crowd that Monday morning. There weren't that many celebrators, so the parking was a joy for once. The New Year's greetings were seemingly between select friends, and the one's I overheard were almost in hushed voices...so as not to interrupt other whispered greetings.
George was the days celebrant. We were warmly welcomed, and as always, urged to welcome others. We did. Yet, this New Year's congregation seemed more quiet and thoughtful this day; as if they knew that something special was about to happen.
And it did...at least for me it did; though for the life of me I haven't known what to say about it. What happened was very personal; no doubt experienced quite differently by every person there. I don't know how you account for an event for which there really are no words, but mostly feelings. But as best I can, I'll tell you what I experienced:
Steve Kremer was the featured musician that New Year's day.
At the Offertory he announced a song; a ballad called "Christmas
In The Trenches"; about our soldiers in the First World War. That
war is seldom talked about these days so I started paying close
attention to the words; and as far as I could tell, others were doing
much the same. There were so many verses I recall wondering
how Steve remembered all the words.
In this ballad the story is told of how our troops sang Christmas
Carols while in their trenches in France on a Christmas Eve. After
they had finished, they were surprised to hear the same songs being
sung by the German troops at the other end of their battlefield. 
As
the song continues, the men from the opposing armies then put down
their weapons to meet each other in the middle; to exchange
Christmas greetings, their names, photographs, and even letters.
I was pretty moved at that point and found myself crying. Looking
around, I found I wasn't alone...and cried more in writing this. I
just didn't anticipate the next part of the song: As the sky became
lighter before the sunrise, the soldiers from the two armies returned
to their respective sides of the battlefield...went back into their
trenches and began shooting at each other to resume the warfare!
The narrator within the ballad is said to wonder then if he has
wounded or killed someone he might have met, or given gifts to.
By this time I'm wondering how badly the soldiers would have felt, and
if they had been crying also. At which point I'm aware that someone
could easily give me a reality check by saying: 'Hey...it's only a song;
and probably never happened!' And yes, I agree; it probably never
did happen; no doubt could not happen. THAT is what I find really
bothering me: In this world we've built, it is acceptable to hate and kill
in a war; but would be a crime, punishable by death on the battlefield,
to interrupt such killing in order to show such human concern. I know
that we have to fight some wars...that our own country was born in a
war to assure our personal freedoms, and I am very proud to be here.
What I don't know is if we've ever begun to consider when we should
stop the wars, or what it does to the people who are required to fight.
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This was just a personal reflection, but it turned out to be a powerful
motivation for me to consider what more we might do to assure peace
in this world. We used to 'talk' about Peace On Earth every Christmas;
I'm not sure we ever did that much to make a difference. 
At any rate,
Steve said he'd be glad to sing it again. Maybe you can get him to do
it....before we decide go to war again.
If he does, listen to the words. Tell me what you think.