The Christmas Truce

On Christmas Day, 1914, in the middle of World War I, the guns fell silent. Along many sections of the front, British and German soldiers spontaneously put down their weapons. Men called out to each other, climbed out of their trenches, came together in the killing ground blasted with shell craters and barbed wire, and shook hands. They sang carols together, they traded cigarettes and liquor, they gave each other presents, they played soccer. And then on December 26, the war came back, and the bullets flew again.

Can you imagine what he felt, when the first man climbed over the edge of the trench with a white flag and a bottle of schnapps? Can you imagine what it was like to play in that soccer game with men you tried to kill yesterday?

In the mud and blood of Western Civilization’s most senseless and shameful disaster, the Christmas Truce of 1914 was the single ray of shining silver grace.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Peace on Earth, good will towards men.