A Few Minutes with the Mayor – Dec 2015/Jan 2016

Year end approaches and so does Christmas. For some, it is a time of giving and perhaps not much more. This act of giving, which most of us engage in, began a long time ago when the Magi brought gifts to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. I wonder what they would say if they could see the multi-billion dollar retail industry their act of giving has turned into… about 600 billion to be exact. America’s whole economy is dependent on sales at Christmas time.

Christmas has always been the herald of a loving, friendly, warm-hearted, even happy time. True… it can be a time of stress for some, but no one has suggested dropping it from the calendar. Not even those who, intent on erasing from all public discourse any mention of the babe in the manger, would have us celebrate not Christmas, but the winter solstice. Having grown up in the Northeast with its blustery winters, I really see little joy in extolling our planet’s position as it turns on its axis.

And what would we say? How would we greet each other? And what would happen to all those Christmas donation pots the Salvation Army trots out each year? Would they be emblazoned with the greeting Merry Solstice?

I couldn’t imagine what I would do if we change the name of the holiday. I’ve got a closet full of Christmas wrapping paper which I’d have to throw out. And how about all those families gathered together around the tree on Christmas morning. Would the wife still say, “Save the wrapping paper!”

No… it’s all too complicated to think of changing the name. There is, after all, something about the spirit of Christmas… something that has always made this day different from any other day of the year… something that all the name-changers in the world could never understand. The Magi knew, for their act of bringing gifts was when the spirit of gift-giving at Christmas began.

I am reminded of another time… a time when men were in a miserable situation with little hope of surviving. Their amazing experience took place exactly 101 years ago. World War 1 had been raging along a front line from Switzerland to the North Sea. By November it had become a stalemate with armies dug in fortified trenches on both sides. Then, on Christmas Eve, an unofficial truce took place when roughly 100,000 British and German soldiers laid down their arms along the entire front. Crawling out of their trenches the Germans set up Christmas trees with candles and began singing Christmas carols. Then the British began singing carols of their own. Soon, the men on both sides were exchanging gifts. Along some sectors they even played soccer, joined by some of the officers. Talk about real Christmas spirit!

This truce lasted the better part of a week until the commanding generals, furious at their men for fraternizing with each other, managed to get them back to the business of war and killing one another. So much for the spirit of Christmas in the trenches. Consequently, by war’s end, four million souls were lost… an entire generation of young men in England and Germany. Unknown then, an even more deadly war was to come.

We are five generations removed from that time when men, in the most horrendous circumstances, became infused with the spirit of “Peace on earth! Good will to men!” When we celebrate Christmas, please, let’s not forget His words.. “:Love one another as I have loved you…” That command is the most powerful one in the English language.

Merry Christmas Everyone!