Dear Editor:
What a wondrous time of the year! Forget for a moment! Wish! Wish for everything you might want. What words can soothe, can calm more than these, so sing them again and again:
Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm. All is bright.
So forget! For one brief moment, forget! Magic fills the air. Forget tax relief; forget those left homeless by flood and fire in our country. Forget that one year ago as Californians sang that Christmas carol, little could any have so wildly imagined what would happen a year later, so that the spelling and meaning of these words they sang then would have changed so completely. But change they did. So as many returned to the site of their homes, a deafening silence prevailed: no barking dogs, no TVs blaring - only silence. Perhaps a few embers still glowed. Perhaps part of a stone wall yet stood, but the silhouette presented more holes than standing stones in those silent remains, while in the distance flames leaped out of control, and the horizon shined brightly at night.
Silent night,
Hole-y night,
All is calm.
All is bright.
"Excite and delight" read one ad this week; perhaps that chain's next week's ad in the west can read, "Dig through the rubble; you have no real trouble."
So forget the wars being fought throughout the world, leaving one dead, another alive, yet another wounded. Close your eyes and press the mute button when ads solicit your help on TV to come to the aid of starving children, skin stretched tight as a drum over their boney frames; forget shots from guns wielded by crazed killers which sent so many falling to the ground dead or wounded; forget the poor and needy, perhaps lucky enough to find some morsel to eat, but who, certainly, have no gift to open on Christmas day. Forget all these for a moment! All is calm; All is bright!
Sing away, citizens of Jefferson City in our warm homes with tables overflowing with plenty. Sing on! Remember that star which guided Wise Men from afar to the scene of a newborn, the one who one day will rescue the world from these wretched woes.
Silent night, Holy night;
All is calm. All is bright.
For us in Jefferson City, at least; For now, at least.