Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Listen while you read:  Warning: this video will break your heart

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so Happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done?
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so Happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Christmas

~  John Lennon

The world is so wrong. John Lennon wrote that in 1971. Think about that for a minute. Forty-six years later, can we say anything different? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a downer here on your Christmas. Of course, I'm thinking that if you are having a perfect Christmas, you don't have time to read my blog! So I will continue speaking to the rest of you, the ones whose lives do not resemble Currier & Ives Christmas prints. In other words, most of us.

John And Yoko recorded this song in the fall of 1971. You can find it on Some Time in New York City, released in 1972. At the end of the video (which I warned you about!), Mahatma Gandhi is quoted, "An eye for an eye will make us all blind." And that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? War is not over, and not for lack of so many of us wanting it.

For rich and the poor ones . . . and who has not called up that old lyric from 1921's "Ain't We Got Fun?" The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The "tax reform" bill that was just passed is just another reincarnation of this truth. Did we not learn anything from the "trickle-down" scam of the Reagan era?

But, hey, Terry, lighten up . . . it's Christmas! Let's hope it's a good one. And there's a lesson here, isn't there? We cannot let the ills of the world dampen our loving spirit. Holidays are a time to be with people we love, to be kind, to be generous, to find joy in the familiarity of family and friends.

I am writing this post several days before Christmas, but if all goes as planned, by Christmas night, I will be with the people I love most in the world. We will gather around a table for dinner on an island in another country. We will raise our glasses, clinking them 64 ways before we imbibe. And then we will feast, tell stories, laugh, and find comfort in our connections. And with any luck at all, we will find our way back to our island abode.

Wherever you are, and however you choose to celebrate this day (or not), my wish is that you find your own peace within . . . because it doesn't look like the world is ready to offer any kind of inclusive peace anytime soon. Nevertheless, Joy to Your World!