Piece of earth or Peace on earth?

Several years ago, one of the local bears came onto the deck and bent hell out of the bird feeder holder in the picture, or one very much like it. I never got around to replacing that holder and the other ones we have leave the wire tray feeder too accessible to the local squirrels. Since we’ve been seeing fewer cardinals this year, I think Santa, or one of his elves, may be asked about a replacement hanger. Minnesota winters with cardinals at the feeder are much more tolerable than those without.

Christmas cardinal

Photo by J. Harrington

Today’s seasonal mood / mode also has me thinking about a Christmas wish for our country and the rest of the world. Let’s all work on teaching children how to share and play together in the sandbox. If enough of us focus on that, it could be that we’d even remember, or learn for the first time, those lessons needed to get along without wars. That would be a start and a wonderful step forward.

The wish I just shared occurred to me this morning as I was sitting in the living room muttering about cold drafts and unseasonably cold temperatures outside. Then I realized that at least my family wasn’t trying to survive winter in a war zone in a city in Ukraine. My muttering diminished.

We, the human race, have grown to a point that we are destroying critical systems on which we depend and we continue to focus more on fighting with each other than on saving ourselves and our descendants by restoring those systems which are essential to our long term viability, let alone thriving. This concept isn’t new. It was followed by many of the indigenous peoples of North America. The version below is from here:

Among the nations of the Haudenosaunee is a core value called the Seventh Generation. While the Haudenosaunee encompass traditional values like sharing labour and maintaining a duty to their family, clan and nation and being thankful to nature and the Creator for their sustenance, the Seventh Generation value takes into consideration those who are not yet born but who will inherit the world.

In their decision making Chiefs consider how present day decisions will impact their descendants. Nations are taught to respect the world in which they live as they are borrowing it from future generations. The Seventh Generation value is especially important in terms of culture. Keeping cultural practices, languages, and ceremonies alive is essential if those to come are to continue to practice Haudenosaunee culture.

The preceding two paragraphs seem to me to be completely in alignment with “Peace on earth, good will to all.” If we work at it, we could make Christmas season last all year, after year.

Wartime Christmas

Joyce Kilmer - 1886-1918

Led by a star, a golden star,
The youngest star, an olden star,
Here the kings and the shepherds are,
Akneeling on the ground.
What did they come to the inn to see?
God in the Highest, and this is He,
A baby asleep on His mother’s knee
And with her kisses crowned.

Now is the earth a dreary place,
A troubled place, a weary place.
Peace has hidden her lovely face
And turned in tears away.
Yet the sun, through the war-cloud, sees
Babies asleep on their mother’s knees.
While there are love and home—and these—
There shall be Christmas Day.

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