tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post657395159883732331..comments2024-03-24T19:55:32.537-05:00Comments on The View from This Seat: The Amazing Christmas Truce of 1914LKSeathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-61404055349518185072014-12-27T17:44:08.984-06:002014-12-27T17:44:08.984-06:00Thanks for sending this link, Michael. I just now ...Thanks for sending this link, Michael. I just now listened to it for the first time. In the interview mentioned below Dr. Weintraub made reference to McCutcheon and his song.LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-29882127434199968312014-12-27T17:33:17.274-06:002014-12-27T17:33:17.274-06:00As I write this I am listening to an interview wit...As I write this I am listening to an interview with Stanley Weintraub, the author of the book mentioned above, which was broadcast by NPR in Dec.2004. (I heard just a part of this broadcast on Christmas morning.) The link is http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4246639LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-11831751158768532312014-12-27T16:35:32.496-06:002014-12-27T16:35:32.496-06:00Here's John McCutcheon's rendition of the ...Here's John McCutcheon's rendition of the events in his song "Christmas in the Trenches": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJi41RWaTCsAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420343990064880693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-65486336272119791352014-12-25T07:11:12.394-06:002014-12-25T07:11:12.394-06:00You scooped The Star, Leroy!
http://www.kansascity...You scooped The Star, Leroy!<br />http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article4925172.html#/tabPane=tabs-a7245120-1Antonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03945285810893867079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-27145336367112242282014-12-24T16:50:17.861-06:002014-12-24T16:50:17.861-06:00Amen. A story from which ballads and legends shou...Amen. A story from which ballads and legends should form and endure, even as St. Nicholas, whose day we recently remembered. May we learn and follow in the good of those who have gone before.1sojournernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-88135130125986543192014-12-24T14:04:23.068-06:002014-12-24T14:04:23.068-06:00Thanks for your response, Leroy, which included th...Thanks for your response, Leroy, which included the link to the Economist article as well as Keith's comments.<br /><br />In response to my comments, you say that you "would like hope to be based in reality rather than in fiction." Going back to the three "hope-filled" stories I mentioned, one might ask, Did the German and British soldiers "really" play football on Christmas 1914? Does Santa Claus "really" bring Christmas gifts? Did the heavenly host "really" appear to the shepherds at Jesus' birth (Luke 2:13-14)? Two of these three stories deal with historical events that may or may not have actually happened. Santa Claus is clearly fictional (Sorry to break it to you this way), though his story engenders "hope" among children and many adults, especially ones who have large economic interests. (See the famous editorial, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus," http://www.newseum.org/exhibits/online/yes-virginia/.) <br /><br />I suppose that I want to "problematize," or "complexify" (Aren't those great words?), the relationship between "reality" and fiction, especially as they are connected with hope. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420343990064880693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-89989939948321276472014-12-24T10:55:03.190-06:002014-12-24T10:55:03.190-06:00Thanks for your comments, Michael. And while I thi...Thanks for your comments, Michael. And while I think it is very important to "keep hope alive," I also would like hope to be based in reality rather than in fiction. <br /><br />There was also an article in the 12/20 issue of The Economist which my son Ken showed me last Saturday and then my son Keith commented on today: "They articulated it in a way that made sense to me – that it was very early in the war and each side was still expecting total victory soon, so it was more out of good form and confidence than pathos and expectation that they were all cannon fodder. There was no repeat later when the reality sunk in."<br /><br />The link is http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21636766-pre-christmas-lull-political-combat-probably-means-less-meets-eye-stillLKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-8578659016555627812014-12-24T10:03:17.929-06:002014-12-24T10:03:17.929-06:00A meaningful comment by local Thinking Friend Eric...A meaningful comment by local Thinking Friend Eric Dollard:<br /><br />"Maybe someday there will be no more stupid wars and then, after that, no more wars at all with Christmas becoming an all-year event. The touching story of the Christmas truce in 1914 inspires hope."LKSeathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08860725174433173015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-47375979475057081982014-12-24T09:26:22.954-06:002014-12-24T09:26:22.954-06:00Once again, Leroy, "spot on!" as the Bri...Once again, Leroy, "spot on!" as the British would say. Garrison Keillor spotlights the Truce in today's "Writer's Almanac" (http://writersalmanac.org/). What he does not say, however, is that a good deal of controversy exists around exactly what went on back then. See the interesting articles on CNN and in the New York Times (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/23/sport/football/christmas-truce-football-match/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/sports/soccer/tale-of-1914-christmas-day-truce-soccer-game.html). What all of this says to me is this: We all need our stories--whether with football matches, fat elves, or heavenly host--in order to "keep hope alive."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420343990064880693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-44659964586096452902014-12-24T08:18:07.248-06:002014-12-24T08:18:07.248-06:00Indeed, may this Christmas renew our hope again.Indeed, may this Christmas renew our hope again.Antonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03945285810893867079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355086750486200439.post-1509138294230691562014-12-24T08:16:48.536-06:002014-12-24T08:16:48.536-06:00"Ray of hope" is a good phrase for such ..."Ray of hope" is a good phrase for such an event, Leroy. Things like this have always inspired me to suspect that somewhere under our idolatries and idolatry-inspired brutalities there is a sense of humanity and fellow feeling that cannot be entirely crushed, that might someday blossom into a world-wide garden of human solidarity. Of course, we know there are other possible interpretations; among which is that such events are evidence of very little fellow feeling among human beings, that in the end their idolatries and idolatry-inspired brutalities cease only when exhausted, but then only temporarily till they've forgotten their last major indulgence in misguided hostility.Antonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03945285810893867079noreply@blogger.com