Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men!

Wouldn't it be nice if this seasonal proclamation of good cheer would be the guiding principle of all mankind all year long? If it were, we could get on airplanes a lot easier and quicker, it would be easier to walk into Government buildings throughout the US, it would even be easier to get into the Smithsonian Museums and those driving into the Washington, DC area on Interstate highways would not be greeted with overhead electronic signs that warn them "To Report Any Suspicious Activity". When friends from Kansas came to visit a few years ago (after 9/11, of course), they said they had never seen signs with that warning in the Midwest.

Through most of the 19th Century, ordinary citizens could walk into the White House (then called the Executive Mansion) and ask for an audience with the President. Now no one can even drive down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House since cement barriers have the street blocked. Even E Street that runs behind the White House south lawn is now blocked off to regular traffic.

In contrast to the fear and suspicion engendered by the heightened security around the world, we can all witness a spirit of goodwill among people of all nations during International Olympic Events. We saw the joy on the faces of the participants during the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympics in Beijing last year. The Winter Olympics will soon start in Vancouver, and we will again witness people of all nationalities, ethnic groups, races, religions, customs and backgrounds of life experience joining together for competition on playing fields, ski slopes, ice rinks and other arenas for the thrill of the games, not on battlefields with weapons of all types used for the purpose of imposing dominance of one group over the lives of others.

But as we know, violence claims the lives of civilians, as well as combatants. Wars of the 21st Century are not limited to battlefields. Violence can strike any time and anywhere, as it did in NYC, DC and in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11/2001 and later in Madrid, London, Bali, Mumbai and repeatedly in marketplaces, hotels and other sites of civilian life throughout the Middle East. It can also strike neighborhoods and homes throughout the world for criminal or other irrational reasons.

While it may seem that we are living in very troubling times, let's continue to hope for a better world, celebrate the diversity of nature and mankind, find opportunities, as many do all year long, to improve the lives of others and try to live by the enduring wish of:

Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men!

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