Our world is filled with violence and war - in Ukraine, in Israel, in Africa and dozens of other less well-known places around the globe. The incessant brutal conflict makes it hard to believe that there could ever be "peace on earth, goodwill to men."
In 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was wracked by similar thoughts. Grieving the loss of his wife in a fire two years before and the more recent wounding of his son in battle, he was bitterly contemplating what that phrase could possibly mean, what hope it could possibly offer.
As he sat at his desk on Christmas morning, despairing, he heard the village church bells ringing. Their sound suddenly filled him with assurance that evil would not ultimately prevail. He took up his pen to compose a poem of optimism and hope. The poem was titled I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, and has since been set to music in several different arrangements. Here's one I especially like.
I wish all my readers an especially meaningful Christmas today:
