Whistler's Wish

In 1992 David Strathairn played a character named Whistler in the movie "Sneakers". Whistler is blind and has a criminal record resulting from some disagreements with the phone company. In the movie's final scene, Whistler and his friends (Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, and sadly, the last role for River Phoenix) are bargaining with a director from the NSA, James Earl Jones. They NSA covets a code-breaking device Whistler and Co. have stolen so badly, Jones promises anything they want in exchange.
Each has a very unique request. What does Whistler ask for? "I'd like peace on earth and good will toward men". Jones indignantly answers, "We're the United States government. We don't do that sort of thing!"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) wrote a poem in 1863, during the Civil War titled "Christmas Bells". In the 1870's the verse became the basis for a song, made famous over the years by performers such as Elvis Presley, Sarah McLachlan, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, The Carpenters and Johnny Cash.
I respect the power of holiday music. I am by no means a sentimental sort who anxiously awaits Thanksgiving to pass so I can plaster my home with holiday decor.  But the music of the season is different. The combination of the encroaching holiday, the onset of winter and the joy of children transform my psyche. Christmas Bells, when set to music went by a different label, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". This imagery in the song coupled with the historical period when the poem was originally composed offer a deeper meaning. Here's the poem in it's original form:

Christmas Bells

    I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
   
And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom
        Had rolled along
        The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
   
Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,
        A chant sublime
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
   
Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
   
It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
   
And in despair I bowed my head;
    "There is no peace on earth," I said;
        "For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
   
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, the last verse has power over me. I don't portend to be a religious person, succumbing to the exercises prescribed by the church. Religious in a "how I live my life and treat others" way, well then I could be considered a devout man. That verse holds greater power than that of an anxious child waiting in line to see department store Santa Claus and a host of other holiday scenes we see repeated every year.

"The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men." In 21st century America, it's difficult to imagine the strain of the Civil War on the country. Especially during times of expected celebration. How many babies birthed, weddings and holidays passed under that shadow of war? War pitting American versus American in the cities and fields of the country still stained with the blood of the Revolution. 

I think of my own contribution toward peace on earth and good will to men. What does that mean for me? Do I "mock the song"? When I hear the bells tolling from the churches I pass, I'll be asking that question of myself.