“SILENT NIGHT: THE REMARKABLE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914” TIS THE SEASON TO BE FREE OF WARS WHICH IS THE REASON TO BE FREE OF GOVERNMENTS
The truth is: wars are only fought between countries/governments.
Understand that government is the powerful few who rule the powerless many for the benefit of the powerful few. Those few often “declare war” on some other few and both then order their many to go obediently to kill and be killed.
The book, SILENT NIGHT: THE REMARKABLE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914, by Stanley Weintraub chronicles an amazing event of SPONTANEOUS ANARCHY when those many disobeyed the few and abandoned the war…for an eternity of a day or two.
“SILENT NIGHT brings to life one of the most unlikely and touching events in the annals of war. In the early months of WWI, on Christmas Eve, men on both sides left their trenches, laid down their arms, and joined in a spontaneous celebration with their new friends, the enemy. For a brief, blissful time, remembered since in song and story, a world war stopped.
“Even the participants found what they were doing incredible. Germans placed candle-lit Christmas trees on trench parapets and warring soldiers sang carols. In the spirit of the season they ventured out beyond their barbed wire to meet in No Man's Land, where they buried the dead in moving ceremonies, exchanged gifts, ate and drank together, and joyously played football, often with improvised balls.
“The truce spread as men defied orders and fired harmlessly into the air. BUT, RELUCTANTLY, THEY WERE FORCED TO RE-START HISTORY'S MOST BLOODY WAR.” [my emphasis]
And here is a quote from a Libertarian Christian Institute on this event:
“The truce was not observed everywhere on the front lines, but for those who did it was, not surprisingly, quite awkward to pick up arms again in the future. Many of them simply were not interested in continuing to fight. Some regiments let their adversaries know that they had been ordered to shoot again, but they would aim extra high as to miss them (although they usually advised them to keep their heads down anyway). IF NOT FOR THE BELLIGERENCE OF COMMANDING OFFICERS AND GENERALS, IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT FIGHTING WOULD HAVE CONTINUED [my emphasis] from regiments who had so recently seen that the people they were fighting against were much like them. Getting back to the ugly business of war just didn’t feel right.”
http://libertarianchristians.com/2009/01/07/silent-night-book-review/
Imagine, along with John Lennon and I, THERE WERE NO COUNTRIES, NO GOVERNMENTS, NOTHING TO DIE OR KILL FOR—AND THEREFORE, NO WARS.
Here is a Youtube on the SILENT NIGHT:
And John Lennon’s IMAGINE: