Christmas letter 2006

Dec. 21, 2006

Dear friends and family,

John Lennon hoped to help accelerate the end of the Vietnam War by declaring the war over while fighting still raged. He and Yoko Ono put up billboards heralding the end of the war and sang "Happy Christmas (War is Over)."

That song seldom goes out of style.

John and Yoko believed you can make something happen by acting as if it already has, giving peace a chance.

Currently eight major wars are being fought in the world, major wars being defined by the United Nations as conflicts with 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. Thirty-one countries are involved in conflicts in 2006.

It's hard to know what to do about all that fighting and bloodshed. Peace, anyway, begins at home.

When we moved into our neighborhood more than a decade ago, drug dealers and midnight ramblers owned much of South Lorimier Street. For years we were calling the police regularly at 3 a.m. Peace did not exist. We wondered how to create it.

Our solution was not the preferred one. In league with another couple in the neighborhood, we bought the apartment building where the dealers hung out and closed it down, sending them off to party anywhere else. We sold the house next door to our friends Frank and Robyn. We created a haven, or perhaps a buffer. The neighborhood is much quieter and safer. But we did not create peace.

Earlier this year, Sam turned the former den into a refuge he calls the man's room, a place he goes to play with his toys. Every husband needs one room to call his own, he insisted. DC called this room wasted space. The room created conflict. We've much to learn about creating peace.

The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh says the antidote to the dangers human beings have created for the world is "people who can walk peacefully." He says each of us is that person.

John and Yoko chose the birthday of the Prince of Peace to propose acting as if peace already exists. Creating peace by being peaceful. This we resolve to do more and better in 2007.

Hispanics began moving into our neighborhood recently, adding brown to the black and white street. The more mixture the merrier, we say.

We might encounter anyone and anything on our street. Whenever one of our neighbors walks her little white dog a black cat follows only a few paces behind.

While walking down our street one night this week, DC and the dogs encountered Santa Claus and an elf. "Hi, Santa," DC greeted him, hoping Hank wouldn't lunge at St. Nicholas.

Santa had a bag full of packages for a nearby address he couldn't find. Santa Claus was lost.

We trust the Jolly One will find your neighborhood soon.

Happy Christmas (war is over), Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.