The holiday race is on. Well, it has been on for some time now. Between decorating the house, decorating the International Peace Garden, making travel plans and sprinkling in shopping, the hustle and bustle can be anything but peaceful.
While scouring the Hobby Lobby in Minot, N.D., for deals on Christmas decorations, I could feel my patience waning quickly. Fortunately, I was accompanied by my family on this excursion. Our twin boys — rosy-cheeked and starry-eyed — reminded me over and over that it really is about the children. Every different version of Santa or reindeer was met with cute oohs and ahhs that 3-year-olds quickly resume when they awake the next morning. The cheery sights and smiling snowmen are all their “favorite” now.
These moments are the ones that truly bring the peaceful feeling back into the season. They are yet another necessary reminder to be grateful and happy with an existence that seems so foreign to those less fortunate. Especially during this season, we know both neighbors and strangers around the world are struggling.
As I settled in that evening after a long, dark drive back to the border. My mind drifted ahead to that peaceful feeling of lying on a couch by the tree. This feeling brings a mixture of imagery. There is the vision of utilizing my smaller stature to get a share of the blankets as I joined my 13 siblings (11 older) on Christmas Eve as mom read “The Night Before Christmas”.
There is the vision of a video I grew fond of later in life. In 1977, Bing Crosby filmed a remarkably comforting version of “Peace on Earth” with David Bowie. The earthy colors in the room, the lampshades, the low-definition picture. Without a doubt, I heard that song playing off mom's cassette stereo in my earliest years. Any time I hear it now, I can briefly drift to that warm feeling on Christmas Eve.
My hope is that all people throughout the world can drift to those places within our hearts. We are inundated yet again with heart-wrenching descriptions of children being killed in the Middle East. The holidays will be anything but festive for innocent folks in Israel, Palestine and countless other areas — including our own communities. Perhaps we can keep all of humanity in our minds for this season and carry the hope of peace into the hearts of the next generations. After all, as the song says:
“Every child must be made aware/
Every child must be made to care/
Care enough for his fellow man/
To give all the love that he can.”
I am sure that I have used one of my favorite lines in this very column — Peace is a verb. It is an active endeavor that requires hope and love to activate even in the dreariest moment. So consider meditating on it and even remix the lyrics of this classic song with a simple affirmation following the first lyric.
“Peace on Earth can it be? YES
Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day of glory
Our finest gift we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day, when men of goodwill
To lay before the king pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
So to honour him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Can it be
When we come.”
• • •
Tim Chapman is the CEO at the International Peace Garden on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota. The Garden is open year-round and grooming ski trails for the first time this winter. Rent one of our cabins and enjoy a winter weekend that only the forest of the Turtle Mountains can provide.
