The lyrics of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a hummable, singable song, express what has been unrealizable. Somehow peace and harmony always lie over the horizon of ensuing generations though hints of both might appear briefly in a single local. Lasting peace? Myth. Lasting harmony? Myth. At least, that’s what our history tells us.
Look, for example, at Christmas, a holiday centered on the birth of Christ, a messenger of peace. During the “buying season” fights have broken out in department stores as angry customers push one another over a limited supply of clothing items or toys. The incidents are head-shaking moments caught on video: Christmas, commercial Christmas, that is, has become a context for public displays of greed and anger. Poor little kid in that manger! Think he foresaw what his future birthday parties would entail? Probably, if the story of Herod’s “killing of the innocents” is true.
One could argue that the same event, the celebration of Christ’s birth, that triggers department-store conflicts might also breed one of those occasional moments of peace and harmony. There was that famous World War I incident in Bois de Ploegsteert in Belgium when German and British troops, without any formal negotiations, briefly laid down their arms, met in the “no man’s land” between the trenches, and exchanged greetings during the famous Christmas Truce. Imagine. People at war met without fighting in contrast to Christmas shoppers not at war fighting. Just remember that the truce lasted only through Christmas Eve. They went back to killing one another shortly after the spontaneous moment of peace and harmony.
Enter Jeff Bezos
But now there’s a way to ensure that no people will harm one another in department stores at Christmas: Simply remove them from the department stores. Thanks to a trend largely started by Jeff Bezos, many people buy their products online. And because of his company, peace and harmony, the messages of Jesus and Buddha, have peeked at us from the horizon like a Christmas morning sun’s crepuscular rays beneath our long dark night’s purple cloud bank of incessant hostility.
A Revision of Matthew 18:20
The passage in Matthew 18:20 reads, “Where two or three are gathered in my name….” The implication is that when people gather in Christ’s name—as they supposedly do at Christmastime—Christ will be present among them, and with his presence peace and harmony will reside in their hearts. Bezos has effectively revised the passage by keeping people in their homes and separated from one another. Essentially, the revision is this: “Where people don’t interact, the peaceful existence that is the promise of Christ’s birth will, as it did briefly in the no man’s land between the trenches on that Christmas Eve in World War I, pervade humanity.
You want people to be peaceful and harmonious? Separate them.
Look, for example, at Christmas, a holiday centered on the birth of Christ, a messenger of peace. During the “buying season” fights have broken out in department stores as angry customers push one another over a limited supply of clothing items or toys. The incidents are head-shaking moments caught on video: Christmas, commercial Christmas, that is, has become a context for public displays of greed and anger. Poor little kid in that manger! Think he foresaw what his future birthday parties would entail? Probably, if the story of Herod’s “killing of the innocents” is true.
One could argue that the same event, the celebration of Christ’s birth, that triggers department-store conflicts might also breed one of those occasional moments of peace and harmony. There was that famous World War I incident in Bois de Ploegsteert in Belgium when German and British troops, without any formal negotiations, briefly laid down their arms, met in the “no man’s land” between the trenches, and exchanged greetings during the famous Christmas Truce. Imagine. People at war met without fighting in contrast to Christmas shoppers not at war fighting. Just remember that the truce lasted only through Christmas Eve. They went back to killing one another shortly after the spontaneous moment of peace and harmony.
Enter Jeff Bezos
But now there’s a way to ensure that no people will harm one another in department stores at Christmas: Simply remove them from the department stores. Thanks to a trend largely started by Jeff Bezos, many people buy their products online. And because of his company, peace and harmony, the messages of Jesus and Buddha, have peeked at us from the horizon like a Christmas morning sun’s crepuscular rays beneath our long dark night’s purple cloud bank of incessant hostility.
A Revision of Matthew 18:20
The passage in Matthew 18:20 reads, “Where two or three are gathered in my name….” The implication is that when people gather in Christ’s name—as they supposedly do at Christmastime—Christ will be present among them, and with his presence peace and harmony will reside in their hearts. Bezos has effectively revised the passage by keeping people in their homes and separated from one another. Essentially, the revision is this: “Where people don’t interact, the peaceful existence that is the promise of Christ’s birth will, as it did briefly in the no man’s land between the trenches on that Christmas Eve in World War I, pervade humanity.
You want people to be peaceful and harmonious? Separate them.
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