One hundred years ago, a remarkable event occurred in the history of warfare. Soldiers from opposing armies facing each other in trenches ringed by barbed wire climbed out and exchanged Christmas greetings. While a few days earlier they had been shooting each other, on this day (and, for some, for several days after) armies from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and other nations traded souvenirs, sang Christmas carols together and jointly buried their dead.
Not surprisingly, some high-ranking officers took a dim view of these proceedings. They ordered the men not to associate with the enemy and threatened punishment. But in many places the orders were ignored and the already war-weary soldiers (still unaware they had several more years of fighting ahead) took matters into their hands to make peace, albeit temporary.
One hundred years later, the event seems remarkable. How could men suddenly become friendly with each other after months of continual shooting? Of course, even more remarkable is how they could go back to their trenches and start shooting again with the knowledge that the men they had just fraternized were being killed by their bullets and artillery shells!
Yet there are lessons for today. Today, people of all political stripes and persuasions will gather their families together and celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, the Son who was given and the Child who was born to save the world. For a day, we will give to others and exhibit goodwill.
Yet the next day the old animosities will return. Mean-spiritedness, bitterness and personal invective will characterize too much of our public discourse. Those who hate the president will be back at work launching bitter attacks on him. Some Democrats will call Republicans heartless and cruel while Republicans may call Democrats lazy or communist. Some who support same-sex marriage will label their opponents homophobic, while those on the other side will call marriage equality supporters immoral. One group will call the other racist. And it will go on.
The Christmas Truce should teach us some lessons. One is that we should get to know the “other” who we normally see only from a distance. If we get close to them, we might find that those who hold differing political views are not bad people. Unfortunately, there is a growing tendency to go to our ideological corners and avoid mingling with those we disagree with. There is evidence this is happening geographically as Americans tend to be gravitating to areas of the nation where their views are in the majority. It is certainly happening virtually as online and traditional media information sources, such as Fox News or MSNBC, increasingly become tailored to our particular political views and our exposure to challenging media messages is lessened.
We should find someone else we don’t agree with politically and discover why they think the way they do. We still may come away disagreeing. But if we can talk to each other civilly about politics (a practice that desperately needs to be revitalized), we also may gain new perspectives. Indeed, we may realize we actually can agree on many things.
Another lesson we should learn from the Christmas Truce is that if we go back to our battles, they will just continue to drag on. Those soldiers returned to their fighting and World War I dragged on for nearly four more years. The lives of millions of young men were wasted by a conflict that was initiated, and continued, because of national pride. Their Christmas Truce should have been the beginning of a longlasting peace.
Instead of us going back to our trenches and shooting at each other verbally from a distance, we should stay in the “no man’s land” of compromise and conciliation and continue to find solutions to common problems. Unlike the soldiers in the Christmas Truce, we should make the spirit of goodwill at Christmas last more than one day.
Richard Davis is a professor of political science at Brigham Young University. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of BYU.