Malice towards none
One hundred and two years ago, for a brief moment in time, there was peace during the horror of WWI. On Christmas Eve, the Germans began singing Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Silent Night Holy Night). The British then began singing Silent Night Holy Night. Then, on Christmas Day, 1914, the Germans and the Brits began coming out of their trenches walking out onto no man's land. For one day, the day Christian Germans and British celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace, enemies met, shook hands, talked, exchange souvenirs, played football (soccer), and buried their dead. Regretfully, peace lasted for only one day while WWI continued for four more years resulting in the death of 16 million persons. .
Peace on Earth...Goodwill to Men
Will we ever be able to achieve continual peace on earth? Unlikely. We haven't had a lasting peace since the beginning of mankind. Even if we could achieve world peace, we must understand and accept each other's differences. And we can't do this unless we communicate effectively with one another. Over and over again, we have tried and failed, perhaps because leaders who make the decisions don't listen to their people; much like those British and Germans soldiers who came together on Christmas Day in 2014...but went back to killing each other as instructed by their commanders.
I must have read hundreds of comic books growing up, but there is only one I can remember to this day. When I was about 12, I read a comic book about space aliens who came to visit in peace and to assist us earthlings; much like the Vulcans showed us warp drive to visit distant planets in Star Trek. However, in this comic book story, the citizens feared the aliens. While the government, military and others fruitlessly attempted to destroy the far superior aliens, a couple of people befriended them. At the end of the story, the aliens decided to leave. The couple asked if they would ever return. The alien's answer was "When you [mankind] learn to have malice towards none, we shall return and teach you."
For one day, Christmas, 1914, we had malice towards none. For one day, we had peace on earth and goodwill to men. If we are ever able to achieve peace on earth, it must come from each of us, much like the song, Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
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