As we approach the most joyous and for many of us the most sacred time of the year, our thoughts naturally turn to our loved ones, our friends, our colleagues.
We wish each other a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays according to our custom and almost instinctively say, write or sing “Peace on Earth, good will to men.”
But what do we say to our troops, our men and women who once again, for a ninth Christmas in a row, will be spending the holidays in foreign battlefields where peace on earth and good will to men are just cruel incongruities?
What do we say to them since — just as during the past eight Christmases — our nation continues to be at war and there will be little joy and certainly little or no peace for the tens of thousands of our heroes who will be spending yet another Christmas in harm’s way, far from home, far from their loved ones?
And what do we say to their loved ones, the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, husbands or wives who will spend yet another lonely Christmas remembering, praying, crying?
As you will read here, sometimes just saying some unadorned words, just falling back on a simple but treasured song can mean and say more than we could ever try to create.
Photo: Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense: Soldiers pray during a candlelight prayer service in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, in celebration of Christmas.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.