Sounds like the setup up for an unfortunate, albeit timely, joke, doesn’t it? But, if you check out the video (link at the end of the post), you’ll find something amazing… you might even find hope.
It reminds me of a very different moment in history…
early in WWI, in the middle of the horrible trench warfare in Europe, there was a brief un-official truce… a truce that defied the direct orders from superior officers… orders which, most often came from superiors that were not, themselves, stationed in the trenches.
Despite the best efforts of their Generals, the truce appears, to have been inspired a night earlier, on Christmas Eve, when one side heard the other side singing a Christmas carol. The other side then sang one of their own Christmas carols and so it went, back and forth, until the British troops sang oh come all he faithful and the German troops sang along in the original Latin.
The next morning, Christmas Day, several Germans soldiers approached the British lines with no weapons… I want you to think about that for a second. Close your eyes, if you can do so without looking like a total nut and getting yourself fired, or something… otherwise, just, do your best to imagine… it’s not worth getting fired over… anyway, first, I want you to be the German soldier. You make the decision to go, along with another soldier or two. Great. Ok. Now what? Now, I’ve got to climb out of this trench which has been the only thing keeping me from getting shot, for the last five months and I’m going to walk across the dead bodies of my friends and my foes, until I get to the place where all the bullets that are trying to kill me come from and, once I get there, hope that they will agree to a temporary truce. Otherwise, I’m a prisoner of war now, at best… because if I’m not that, it means I’m dead. Gutsy move, no? They took a chance. A huge chance.
Now switch uniforms, in your mind. You’re in the British trenches, wishing like hell that you were at home, with your family and wondering if you’ll survive the day… waiting for the gunfire to resume and the explosions to start hitting again. You look out at the other trench and see a couple enemy soldiers leaving the safety of their trench. Do you shoot? They don’t appear to have guns. They get all the way over to you, as you all hold your breath and your gunfire. There’s a discussion … what do we do? They say they want a Christmas Day truce. Weren’t we given orders not to do that? Definitely were. Is this a trick? Dun’ know. The decision is made. Let’s trust them and see what happens. Pretty gutsy move here, too.
What happens next reflects one of the best, and most inexplicable, traits of humanity. These men… these enemies, they left their trenches. They exchanged small gifts and momentos, cigars, and cigarettes. They carried their dead off the battlefield. They played a friendly game of soccer and there are letters which tell of how they expressed to men of the other side that they had no grudge against one another. That they didn’t want to kill each other. Probably, that they didn’t even know why the hell they were there.
Not everyone was happy with this display of humanity. The leaders of these warring nations were terrified that peace would break out. Yes, you read that correctly. For a variety of reasons, which are not the point of this post, they were afraid that the soldiers would simply make peace with one another and, seeing each other as real people, instead of monsters, that the men of each army would simply refuse to kill each other. So, the order was given to end the truce. Failure to comply would result in punishment, with the greatest punishment being execution on the basis of treason, if these men allowed their truce to continue, thereby failing to resume the war. In one case, a British general, fearing mutiny, permitted his men to engage in the truce on Christmas Day. However, the next day, he gave the order to end the truce and fire at any German standing in the area between the trenches. His men disobeyed the order, along with all of the German soldiers that were disobeying the same orders by their commanding officers. The British general, fearing that he was losing control – fearing that peace might break out, grabbed someone’s gun in the trench and shot and killed an unarmed German soldier who was standing in the open area between the trenches and things spiraled out of control very quickly from that moment as the threat of peace quickly dissipated.
We aren’t as different as we have been led to believe. We certainly aren’t as different as the warring armies of two different nations – invader and the invaded. But, I think we can all agree that these two sides are perceived to be almost as far apart as two sides can be, in our society. Yet, when a speaker from one side was given two minutes… two freaking minutes to share his platform, the opposing side found themselves agreeing on the vast majority of points made! You may say, “well, those other points on which they disagreed are a pretty big deal.” Yes, they are. But, that is one of the greatest traits of humanity: we have the ability to choose; to choose to see our differences or our common ground. Choose the former and we will never move forward. Choose the latter and we are nearly unstoppable. This isn’t some kumbaya, fru-fru, “the whole world is sunshine and puppy dogs,” non-sense. There’s no sunshine and puppy dogs when you step out from the safety of your literal, or even your mental, trench; nor will you hear anyone singing kumbaya when a black lives matter activist is given the chance to take the stage at a Trump rally, or vice-versa… And please restrain the voice yapping in your head right now about all the indignations suffered by your side, or, the list of offenses perpetrated by “the other side.” That’s the voice we all need to get control of – it’s the one that likes to paint every member of a group that we disagree with, with the sins of the worst members of that group, and, I believe it’s one of the greatest barriers we face.
Whether we are talking about the video of the rally, the WWI Christmas Day truce, or any time in our day to day lives where we find ourselves at odds with someone, the problem and the solution are always the same: the problem is our starting point. It’s us against them, fingers, guns and blame all pointed at the other side. The solution is found when we look at ourselves for the source of action and change. The solution, is humility. It is the death of self-righteousness. In the trenches, the Germans could have said, why don’t they come to us? Why do we have to risk death and go to them? Humility says, I’m not inherently better than him, so, why shouldn’t I go first. Looking to yourself for action says, even if he should go first, if he won’t take the first step, then I will. The British similarly had to maintain humility and to take action. Pride could easily stand in the way when someone else has taken the first step and humility was required to accept the offer initiated by the other side. And, in this case, the “action” was simply the decision to trust.
In the video of the rally, we see the same things… two sides looking at each other as enemies. Then, what appears to be a spur of the moment decision (and one which the man making the decision appears visibly apprehensive about making) to share the stage and microphone, on the basis of a principal – that he believes in free speech. Humility – I’ll share the stage with you… I’ll share my moment with you. Even if I’m reluctant to do so. Action: I’ll share this stage with you, even though I’m really nervous about the outcome. Then from the perspective of the activist… humility – willingly taking the stage despite the intense fear that you will be jeered and called names. Action – choosing to accept the offer from someone that you, just seconds earlier, considered an enemy. How will these moments play out in your life? That’s up to you.
References:
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/3643889/christmas-truce-1914/%3fsource=dam
thereluctantcommentator 