I saw this Christmas video posted on the Modern Vespa forum this evening and it reminded me of how I wish things were in the world. One hundred years have passed since men waged battles in the trenches of Europe. While wars continue, the spark of human hope and imagination persists that seeks peace on earth and that one day the world will be a better place.
May this video remind you of the dream as well.
UPDATE: After reading the comments on the video I remembered the song “Children’s Crusade” by Sting done in the 1980s. It’s a powerful follow to the above video.
Excellent video! Thank you for posting it. Somehow, I don’t see that happening in today’s political environment. But there’s always hope…
Hope is a powerful idea. Don’t lose it!
I never tire of hearing about that remarkable Christmas moment in WWI. And what a delightful depiction this video is.
I believe that the truce perfectly demonstrated the important difference between warriors and their far removed commanders: Battlefront warriors usually can relate to each other, know exactly what their “enemy” warriors deal with daily. The arrogant commanders, those architects of aggression, distant from the front lines, typically are obsessed with absurd, abstract ideologies and with settling irrational personal grievances. I believe that the “common” folks among us would agree that it’s high time the warriors become the commanders, militarily, politically, socially, you name it. Maybe then there would be real hope for this troubled human race.
When I first saw the video I was immediately reminded of the distance between soldier and general and thought of the poignant song by Sting in the 1980s — “Children’s Crusade”. After watching the video and then listening to that song it’s quite powerful.
I’ve added the second video to the post.
“Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.”
– Henry Kissinger
“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.” – US Marine Major General Smedley Butler, one of only 19 people to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor, 1935
Despite so much evidence about the costs of war, somehow, leaders manage to keep it alive and people snarling at one another…
This vid made me feel weepy. I’m completely naive and a damned fool to ever consider that something like this could ever happen. But, I wish…
I’m so disillusioned by the sadness and cruelty in the world.
Thanks for sharing, Steve.
A few sunny days and a little fun may change the way the world looks.
There’s a song written about this. I think it’s called Christmas in the Trenches. Brings a tear to my eye as well.
Best to all, p
Thanks for the head’s up on the song Phelps. I’ll have a listen.
I guess it`s true what Douglas MacArthur said, “The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” Thanks for sharing this with us Steve.
Think about this stuff very long and you get to some simple yet difficult to answer questions– “Why is there war?” and “Why isn’t there peace?”.
And think a little longer and it gets uncomfortable.