James Pfister: Peace and joy, and war
This is the season of peace and joy. As one interested in international relations, I am naturally interested in what causes peace. As one who likes the holiday spirit, I am interested in the concept of joy as a bon vivant.
With wars today, I am reminded of the Christman Truce of 1914 during World War I. That war had been underway for just five months. Troops on both sides left their trenches, traded cigarettes and cigars, food, and some liquor, played soccer, and sang Christmas carols, such as Stille Nacht (Silent Night). They also took the bodies of the dead for proper burial.
It all started as some German troops, largely from Saxony, who could speak English, in their German accents, invited the English to meet in the no-man’s land between the trenches. In A.J. Baime and Volker Janssen, “WWI’s Christmas truce,” Oct. 4, 2022, Bruce Bairnsfather, an Englishman, wrote about his experience. “Here I was, in this horrible clay cavity (a trench) miles from home. Cold, wet through and covered with mud … I listened …Suddenly we heard a confused shouting from the other side. We all stopped to listen. The shout came again. The voice came from a German soldier … Come over here.” The English answered: “You come halfway. I come from halfway.” “Here we were — the actual, practical soldiers of the German army. There was not an atom of hate on either side.”
There were impromptu cease-fires along the Western Front; some lasted for days. (Baime and Janssen, Ibid.). Another English soldier, John Ferguson, said: “Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!” This information comes from letters and diaries. German soldiers were using candles to light Christmas trees around their trenches. A British soldier set up a barbershop and charged Germans a few cigarettes for a haircut. (Baime and Janssen, Ibid.). Several soccer games were played, one using a “bully beef ration tin as the ‘ball.'” (Wikipedia). “Fear and distrust gave way to humanity.” (Jerome Gavin, “The Christmas Truce,” Vision of Humanity).
The political and military leaders put an end to such celebrations. This was not the way to conduct a war. Adolf Hitler “sharply criticized the behavior of men in his regiment who had opted to join the British in No Man’s Land. ‘Such a thing should not happen in wartime,’ he is reported to have said. ‘Have you no German sense of honor?’” (Michael Ray, “Christman Truce,” Vatican Leader, Nov. 17). This was certainly a personality type to diminish, as the world was to learn.
There is a general desire for communion with others in peace and joy. There is the typical country bar. People meet and talk, and relax with a drink. Regulars come in. It is a form of joy, looking forward to the comfort of friends. There are other situations of joy, such as a Thanksgiving meal with family, or when our favorite sports team wins.
What is it about this holiday season that leads to thoughts of peace and joy? I believe it is the motivation for joy that causes peace. It leads to ways of avoiding or resolving conflict. Giving joy is also an expression of joy. Joy is part of the human spirit.
Sigmund Freud wrote about the “pleasure principle.” Freud wrote: “I am, of course, speaking of the way of life, which makes love the center of everything … the problem before us is how to get rid of the greatest hindrance to civilization — namely the constitutional inclination of human beings to be aggressive towards one another (we are thus interested in the command of the conscience) to love one’s neighbor as oneself.” (Sigmund Freud, “Civilization and Its Discontents,” 1930). As they said in the latter 1960s, “Make love, not war.”
My late professor, Dr. J. David Singer, created the Correlates of War Project at the University of Michigan, which continues. In addition to studying the causes of war, I believe we should study the causes of joy and love. Joy and love, not war, are the spirits of humankind to cultivate this season and beyond.
Peace, love, and joy to all.
— James W. Pfister, J.D. University of Toledo, Ph.D. University of Michigan (political science), retired after 46 years in the Political Science Department at Eastern Michigan University. He lives at Devils Lake and can be reached at jpfister@emich.edu.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: James Pfister: Peace and joy, and war
