I’ve been blessed this year by having been included in a group of local people who like to sing. Since it’s The Season, we will be performing carols tomorrow evening at the Mitchells Island Hall. (If you’re in the neighbourhood, do drop in. There will be a bar-b-cue, too.)
We singers ran up against a problem with one of the songs in our repertoire because the Anglican Board who are organising the carolling took offence with it. The song is John Lennon’s “A Very Merry Christmas”, or maybe you know it better by the lyrics, “War is Over”.
Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote it as a protest song against the Vietnamese War and it’s intent is to spread the word of peace. The Anglicans seemed to miss the point and said that including the word “war” would upset the little children. OMG, as if kids, by the time they get to school age, have somehow in this day of media barrage managed to miss that 3-letter word.
Never mind. In a harmonious and conciliatory compromise, I suggested the words “Peace is coming” as a substitute and so, now the little children are safe – as long as the adult carollers in the audience don’t unconsciously and insensitively re-insert the hostile word. The beautiful Lennon Christmas classic will go on.
There is a very famous yoga story that tells a tale of war and of kin slaughtering each other called the “Bhagavad Gita”. It stars Arjuna and Krishna philosophising about the nature of one’s duty in the world, even when it involves killing. My friend Michael Hollinngworth wrote about this story in a very informative and accessible way that you might like have a look at: How the Battle Ends