We Are the Children

A few days before Thanksgiving, my husband reached for the radio dial and put on a station playing Christmas music. As a Thanksgiving purist, I refuse to listen to Jingle Bells before the turkey’s been put away, so I made him change the station. Not yet!

But now, we’re less than four weeks from Christmas, so I’ll be cranking up the volume to rock around the Christmas tree, soaking in the classic carols as well as those that fall into the “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” genre. I love the instrumental version of “Christmastime is Here” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, but if I hear “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” one more time, I’m gonna scream! Enough already!

I have precious Christmas memories rooted in music. As a white-robed child, I processed from corner to corner in a darkened sanctuary, carrying a battery-lit candle and singing words from “The Quempas Carol:” “God’s own son is born a child, is born a child. God the Father is reconciled, is reconciled.” I also remember listening to our church kids singing about dashing through the mashed potatoes, as well as a lullaby “to the tiny Son of God,” as their mice and cat characters sang their hearts out in “Not a Creature Was Stirring.” How did we ever find the time and energy to do a full-fledged Christmas musical? 

One of the highlights of Christmas in Ashland has been the Jingle Bell Ball at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, as the KC Big Band turns the gym into a veritable winter wonderland. This year it’s scheduled for December 8 at 7 p.m., a time to dance the night away to the strains of Irving Berlin and Michael Bublé, or for those of us with two left feet, to soak in the music around the candlelit tables. 

Over the years, Christmas music has warmed our hearts and strengthened our faith, yet it can also challenge our thinking and behavior. Consider the reaction to the song of the angels on a Bethlehem hill, or to the poignant plea of Bing Crosby singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to generations of servicemen and women around the world.  

In 1984, in response to a terrible famine occurring in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure collaborated on a song for Christmas, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” It was recorded on November 25 by BandAid, a group of UK musicians coming together for Geldof and Ure’s project. Hoping to raise 70,000 pounds for famine relief, it became the fastest selling single in British history, raising eight million pounds within its first year. On this side of the pond, a similar project was soon undertaken under the banner of “We Are the World,” raising $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa. 

The natural causes of the Ethiopian famine of 1984-5 were exacerbated by civil war and inhumane political decisions. Yet now, in 2018, a similar humanitarian crisis is brewing in Yemen. David Beasley, managing director of the World Food Program, said, ‘What I have seen in Yemen this week is the stuff of nightmares, of horror, of deprivation, of misery.” According to the United Nations, in Yemen, a child under the age of five dies every ten minutes from preventable causes, including hunger, disease and violence.

Just as we did in 1984-85, it’s time to pay attention, to be reminded again of the suffering of so many. BandAid’s vocalists understood, “There’s a world outside your window and it’s a world of dread and fear where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears.” 

The needs of the world outside our window are overwhelming. As a friend recently lamented: “Find what breaks your heart and you will find your purpose. What do you do when almost everything breaks your heart?”

What to do? We begin. We listen. We educate ourselves. We pray. We speak out. We give. And we sing. “And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy . . .,” for “we are the world, we are the children . . . it’s true we’ll make a brighter day, just you and me.” For the children of Yemen, the children of Ashland.