The Peace and love of Christmas

Title

Language

English

Year

1952

Subject

Christmas.

Peace.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

l:Jttoria/ · Tbe Peaoe and Love of Clarldlllu And tluu, qain,: Christmas. The chill of the Docember "air is over the land, the sh·><t day is dull. and damp, and at dawn it is aometimea cold enoua:h to see your breath. 1 he rice harvest is being gathered, aml in. th.? far-off villages, the pe.-ants are still simple enough to celebrate. the ..... t with -•· and dances whicl> tbi> cit~ folk have· hon~ lcrl<!tten. From Apani· t<> Joie. th .. bright clothes to be _,, at midnight mau are being sewn by the women; the men are bUly making the colored lantern• that will hang from the windows or" around tile- big be/en in the town plaza. The air is redolent of chestnlllr roaalllol: - eb....,.I and of the sharp l"l>Ok of acetylene lampo that liahr; up the fruit stands in the cl>urch patio. The new shipyard in, Sii&aan will ooon build and service big ships, and a jute factory is busily turning out thousands of jute bags that were formerly brought in and paid for in scarce dollan. There is much to be thankful for on Chrl•lmas, 1952. Andyer,The rich land is not everywhere fruitful, many farms will yield no harveot tliis" :!(Oar. The H•ad· of the State, surveyinthe B"ICOI penniiuula by air, noted the dovastation. caused bv two typhoons coming oae after tlie other and decided not to collect taxes from the Bicolimos this year. In central Luzon, great trac17& of fertile land' lie. abandi>ned to cogon, for one cannot raise crOps. wh~ there is no peace and order. In Manila the stores anDOUDCe extension Of. their office hours and tlie Blue. Sunday Law is SU1pended so that the people can go to the llotes to blQI their Christmas presents. The crowds that throng tlie streers look brieDl'· into the glas• windows and pass. OD, searching lor something that can be purchased with the Minimum Monthly Wage. Iii tlie· - · at nigllt, small bands of hopeful boys trv to make .....,. will> their· piping voices, a hotne-made bamboo flute and a pair of incopgruow castanets, but the people remain deaf to their Cbrmmas carols or their mambos, and the windows remain dosed. Down in Joie a band of outlaws which the Army, withdta planes ancit0nb andllanu.thro-. and speciall.-vain"d polioa· dogs could - capture;. finally ......aci- and drives a harcMmpin. Cmvicnd by a COUit of· law.- for • .,.belllon, with n111lliple· murdms'.', dw band is pardoned before· they even enter· the-prison· gate, Pelhapotherewill be peace-in Jolathis-Christmas. Far away fium, the Philippines, everywhen-. in. the world, there is "not peace, but a sword." The newly elected American Pto.idont- hu iwt· finished a: tour of· the Eilropean battle front and! J;m.ely· aclmii-. dtat: hi> has; - •"'Y" solution to the mo-· blem. In the middle East, not far from the hills where the shepherds fint saw the Star of Betlehem, a conflagration whose brig)nneu 11111¥ ouuhiile· that· ~tar, threatens. eveey day. Somewhere in the watery wastes of the Pacifie Ocean. on- a· God for .. salterr coral >eel, the· radioactive dobris loft by the explasion of the fint bydregen• bom~ lios· strewrr Oil' the beadi1 m.,.kiilg· t.he graves of the· 011nna;J" ..,d veget•ble life Mat it halt e~ted. And in the United States, the highest court of the land affirmed the-death· sentence on a man and his wife, convicted of diaelosinsc the secrets of the atomic bomb to another country. good'~LJ to Goel: in the highest,· and on· earth peace to-men .or Almost two thousand years 1-. peace· is· ·tarther anywa~ than. ... r; and mm of· goed JOill· ""' ouRlning each otlier ·t;ying· t.. build the bigger bomb,. the fa- plaue, the- m.,. i.tlia[; weapdn with. which to wipe out 1.11•n• from lho face of the- 0911h, Wal· this be the last Christmas in this world? It will be.i at that precise moment that man uses the hydrogr.n :-= t~orse~:~ ~cn.:;=~~ar fusion bomb) against his neighbor m It will be. as long as men look on their neighbors- as enemies. not as brother.. It will be as long as they believe tha_t might mak<'I right,. and· that the end· jUstifies the means. This ma,y indeed be the last Christmas, if we fOrgei thO meaning of thO' Fint Chriitanu; Far men whq dO DOI have faith in m•rr will ultimately make manltind extiDCr, and·· men who do not beliew· in the- miracle of line and" faiili ciinnot have any id~~ of the -,.vorth of human· life. There hi no defense agaiilst an atomic bomb, nor '!Ye• another atomic bomb, and those who live bY the sword shall die by the aword. Nineteen centories is a long time, IDll!r enoqli to proYe th .. immutability of c:errain trutli~· But man's q_aemory is short and his undentanding pathetically simpli. And so, on Christmas day, on Triangle Hill and SniP<I" Ridge, men will greet each other· with bull°' and" bayoaet In many a farm in Pampanga •. and Nueva Ecija. the doora: and. windows will be ~osed and barred OD Christma"s Eve. Along Escolta. and Plaza Santa. Cruz the neon up will tum night ;11·0 day, lisbting· up tJie. sky for miles around, eye11 even the caves·· of .Jntramuros and the brJTOnr-barong alon(f the estenlM Ami" all)'· dar now; Malacamm wil) put Ull. a Chiistmas party fer the "°"'' and the Fint Lad}' of the land will cistribute her gifts· witb a gracious smilei. The- big companies wili Kive their faithful' em:. plQYees a month'• bonw, and the Social Welfare Administration· will send out its field workers to look for the Ten or Hundr•d Neediest Caset. · "Fhus, again, Christmas.· " " " " 81 THE. LAWYERScJOURNAL Deeemlier. 31, 195!b''

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