Peace on earth, good will to men.

Those are traditional sentiments for this time of year; perhaps more importantly so this year than most.

It is easy to get distracted by the hubbub, and irritated by those whose behavior doesn't suit our taste at the moment. It is also easy to become numbed by report after report of what we consider bad news. More difficult for us is the almost irrational (to our minds) notion to display compassion and courtesy; to remember that, to get love, we must give love; to open our eyes to the realization of divinity in everything.

We're currently presented with circumstances which betray our better selves. Foremost in most people's minds is an economy which seems to be shedding thousands of jobs on a daily basis. People are losing their homes, forced to turn to safety networks stretched thin by need. A corrosive war sucks away billions which could be used to help the situation. Despite the chill outside which forces some to choose whether to use stretched financial resources for heat or for food, we are reminded that, overall, the planet's climate has changed so much that ice is vanishing in the arctic and on Greenland and Antarctica. The blessing of cheaper motor fuel is confounded by the fact that the rate of output decline of global oil production, as reported by the International Energy Agency, is a stunning 9.1 percent.

The problems are enormous and manifold. Closer to home, it seems that yet another local business goes belly-up every week, and, anecdotally, things just sound grim.

Which is why it is so very important to remember that old message: Peace on earth, good will to men. What seems like an abstract concept becomes tangible with the realization that it starts with each of us. We're reminded that we reap what we sow. Let us work to sow brotherhood by being kind to one another. It is good enough for the season, and, in trying times, the sort of sentiment which might help us in the longer run, too.

A very wise man once wrote: "Maybe, it's not too late, to learn how to love, and forget how to hate." This season, let's heed the wise words of the man who first wrote those words - Ozzy
Osbourne. Let's prove it's not too late to take heed of an old sentiment.

This article was published as an editorial in the January 2, 2009 edition of The Parkville (Missouri) Luminary.