Goodbye Alfred Anderson

Just read that the last survivor of the Christmas Truce of World War I passed away in Scotland today (CNN's got the story). For those of you who aren't big history buffs, the Christmas Truce occurred Christmas 1914, when soldiers for the Allied and Central powers spontaneously decided to stop fighting; exchanged 'gifts' of tobacco, candy, or whatever else they had; sang songs; and retrieved their dead.

The story has always touched me because it shows so powerfully that in the midst of chaos, fear, and death our bonds of humanity cannot be extinguished. We may see one another as enemies, but we still depend on one another to be fully human. For a few hours on Christmas morning in 1914, World War I ground to halt along 500 miles of battle because soldiers from opposing sides wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ (and take a break from killing each other).

I also love this story because it just happened -- no one planned for a cease fire or called in orders to lay down weapons. Soldiers just hollered across the divide between them. The people on the other side were trying to kill them, and they wished them a Merry Christmas. It astounds me how incapable we seem to be at reaching similar truces in our own lives when the stakes are profoundly lower.

Love,

Becky