WWI Christmas Truce

[kandaurov]

I'm studying the World War I and its effect on literature at the moment. The reading I have to do is so gruesome at times that I have become quite accostumed to horribly graphic accounts of deaths and the like. It's no surprise, then, that my heart would start racing for joy when I come across the 1914 Christmas Truce. Apparently, British and German soldiers ceased fire on Christmas and met in No Man's Land in order to exchange gifts, pay respects for their losses, and there were even football matches between them. Check wikipedia for more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

In the hitherto bloodiest war in History there was also space for moments of most unlikely harmony like these. Though their duty was to kill their enemies - a duty they indeed carried out - they made an exception for Christmas.

What do you think this says about the human being?

[Virgil]

Well, it does not surprise me. (Actually I am aware of it.) Soldiers though they are fighting each other to the death have the upmost respect for fellow soldiers. Once one steps back from the reasons for fighting, then one cannot help having admiration for adversity and courage. It is a comraderie of having experienced, for better or worst and mostly worst, something that the average person does not. What does that say about humanity? Humanity is complicated and does not follow mathematical type formulas.