You are invited to read this commentary from the Free Enterprise Foundation. It will make you think!

God Bless Us, Every One

“There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."~ Erma Bombeck

“They err who think Santa Claus comes down through the chimney; he really enters through the heart." Mrs. Paul M. Ell.

What is it about Christmas? To quote the carol, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee, tonight” Christmas is a time of wonder, a time when skepticism and doubt give way to what is best about humanity. Accepting our weakness and the seeming impossibility of achieving the goals of our imagination, we suspend our disbelief for just this one day to join together in human charity towards all mankind. For just this one day we accept the tidings of great joy for all of mankind brought to us by God’s Angels in Luke more than two millennia ago.

It makes not a whit of difference that on Boxing Day all of the world’s great challenges remain unsolved. It matters not a whit on that day and 363 to follow, man is as conflicted as he was on December 24th. On Christmas, regardless of our religious affiliation, we all are one in our hopes. Our yearning is universal!

Is it any wonder that more miracles are reported at this time of year? Preparing for this column, I have gone through a number of books on Christmas Miracles. As documented, most are highly personal and find our Creator acting through our fellow human beings in ways that appear miraculous to us in our time of greatest need. I would expect the scoffers to discount those as serendipities and normal human kindness. Some however are not so easily explainable.

There is the one about the older couple stranded in the snow with a blown rear tire. They are not up to changing a tire under the foul conditions. As they sit there wondering what to do, they are approached by strangers. The couple is urged to stay out of the cold and to wait in the car. They soon hear a merry all done and find the tire is changed, but emerging from the car, they find they are alone. Not only are their rescuers gone, but there is no sign in the snow, they were ever there. No marks at all appear in the snow, nor is there any other indicator of their phantom rescuers. Nothing will convince this couple that angels did not come to rescue them.

Then there is the one about two men in a small plane headed to South Dakota who become lost in the fog. They hear over the radio that their ultimate destination is closing because of fog and has no facilities for instrument landings. They are told to return to their origin but cannot because by now they are short on gas.

In the tension of the cockpit, prayer becomes their best hope. As they search for a break in the clouds and start circling down looking for a break in the clouds, they almost become the victim of crashing on a highway and pull up quickly to the clouds. From out of no where a new voice from the radio tells them to trust in him, and he will get them down. The calm steady voice guides them to a safe landing at their ultimate destination, but when the try to thank the controller, a different voice responds to tell them, “What are you talking about? We lost radio contact with you when we told you to return to Pierre.” No amount of skepticism will convince these two men or the many of us who have experienced miracles in their life that anything other than divine intervention brought them safely to their destination.

My last story to tide you over to the New Year, when I will again delve into the reality of the challenges facing us, is a perfect example of Christmas magic. As Christmas 1914 approached, the carnage from the Great War was already horrible. Life in the trenches for the combatants, even for the survivors, had become a living nightmare. On Christmas Eve, German soldiers began to decorate their trenches with whatever they could find, and their voices soon rose in song with their favorite Christmas carols. As the sound wafted over the deadly no man’s land, their voices were joined by French and English alike in their favorites, many of them the same melodies.

As the feeling of Christmas spread its way into the combatants’ hearts, song was joined by greetings and Christmas wishes for friend and foe alike. Soon brave souls in increasing numbers moved carefully onto the killing ground to exchange gifts of whatever kind their mole like existence could provide. The de-facto truce lasted throughout Christmas and found even joint funeral services for the war dead and the retrieval of wounded and dead previously too exposed to retrieve. It was New Years before the previous state of war was fully restored.

Regardless of creed, Christmas cheer is bestowed on us all. I hope that it will invade every nook and cranny of our land and transform frustration, misunderstanding and outright ill will into a basis for us to tackle with a renewed spirit of goodwill the problems that await us in the New Year.

Merry Christmas to all! I look forward to being back with you as together we begin to struggle with the challenges of the second decade of the 21st century.

_._

Copyright © 2009 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr., is president of the Free Enterprise Foundation. He is also a professor at The Citadel and was selected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence and in 2009 to be their first BB&T Visiting Professor in Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership. A regular contributor to the Mercury, Prof. Freer may be reached at Robert.freer@citadel.edu. If you would like him to appear before your group or organization to speak on any of the subjects about which he writes, please contact him at The Citadel. Copies of his earlier columns may be found at The Free Enterprise Foundation