I heard a great story the other day. World War I. Germany. Christmas. An American soldier was standing outside some shops on a street in Coblenz feeling lonely. It was December in 1918, and Germany had just signed an armistice treaty. So, people were generally relaxing and trying to be happy again with the upcoming holiday. Even though most were poor and out of work. The spirit of Christmas hangs out everywhere, you know. And this American soldier was pining for family amid all the homeyness that accompanies the holidays.
As the soldier stood propped up against the stone wall of a shop, two little boys came along and saw the display window. They sighed and pressed their noses against the glass, talking about what they saw and what they wanted, but how they were never going to get it since they had no money.
The soldier stirred himself enough to ask the boys–in German, since he’d been over there long enough to learn it–about their family and themselves. Turns out their father had come back from the war and lost his job. Their mother had no work either. So the family had no money, and the boys had been told that they shouldn’t expect St. Niklaus that year, as they were poor.
Well, this young American boy offered to walk the kids home, and he got to know them better as he did. He also discovered where they lived–an enormous and crowded apartment complex, a few floors up. The soldier said goodbye, then high-tailed it back to his post. There he enlisted the aid of another soldier, and the two went back to the little village store where they purchased toys and chocolate and gingerbread men. Then–later in the evening when the children would be in bed–they walked to the apartments, all excited and forgetting their loneliness.
The soldiers knocked on the door, and the first explained to the mother what they had done and handed her the package. Well, you can imagine how she felt. I’ve been the recipient of kindness like that–particularly three years ago when we’d been out of work for a year. That kind of selfless giving hits you in a place that you can’t understand unless you’ve been there. It is deep. You feel less alone and more hopeful. I’m sure that is what this German mother felt when these young soldier-boys gave her the gifts.
They got to meet the father too–a former enemy. Who knows? They might even have fought against each other directly in some trench somewhere. But here he was receiving gifts from his conquerors, and here they were giving them. I imagine the playing field was not only leveled at that point, but changed entirely. According to the story, the American soldier felt changed. Christmas is about family, and hope, and giving, and love. And he felt it right there where he was in Germany.
Yeah, Christmas is all right. It’s a time when we feel more love than any other time of year. Yes it can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. We are down a bit financially again this year, and I have to say that I haven’t felt more peace in a long time. Not having stuff, and not running around trying to get more (because I can’t) has made me able to just sit and listen and feel. And give–more creatively and more from my heart. It makes me want to love everyone, even those that I find hard to love. (And believe me, I’d be more than happy to be friends with those who find me annoying, too.)
What a great story. There are lots of them out there. There’s a reason we like hearing them. We ought to bring that feeling and desire and yearning and loving into life every day of the year. How much happier we’d all be.
Merry Christmas!
Leave a Reply