By Jesse Halsey
“Christmas is
coming . . .” and what happens will depend upon where you live. What can
Christmas mean to Christians in Korea, south or north? What can Christmas mean
to millions in countries like East Germany where it used to be the great day of
the year and now, because of religious repressions and economic strictures,
little in material ways is possible. What about Yugoslavia with a non-existent
harvest and a winter of starvation ahead? How does one keep Christmas without toys
for the children and food for the table? It is all very well for us who have so
much to be merry at Christmas, but what about the others?
In my last talk
with Dr. Robert E. Spear, he said that, the greatest mystery of Divine
providence was the fact that America had so completely escaped the judgments of
God, abroad in so many parts of the earth. With our superabundance of good
things, we are doubly obligated as individuals to share—“We bear the Christian
name and mark.” And as churches, the needs of brother Christians in many lands
claim our consideration just now for the Christmas—the Christ spirit—must “get
abroad” else the whole thing is a mockery!
From a national
point of view, we are learning that freedom is expensive. Most of us believe it
is worth all that it costs. Uncle Sam is often pictured as Santa Claus by the
caricaturists. The Marshall Plan is sometimes dubbed in terms of Kris Kringle
beneficence. Just the same, increasingly, the country will bear the burden of
rearmament and huge military expenditure. Along with it might it not be that
some gestures of hope and goodwill, might be used?
At last report,
the American Commissioner in West Germany had at his disposal some $50,000
contributed by friends for the relief of refugees and the feeding and housing
of those who have managed to escape from the tyrannies of East Germany. Such
persons—refugees from the Bolshevik terror—aided and rehabilitated, would be worth
in terms of propaganda, the equivalent of many guns.
All through
Indiana and Illinois, near hundreds of rural stations, there are great metal
beehives of corn. In the western states the superabundance of nature (wheat) is
often rotting on the ground for want of shelter. Potatoes in excess—subsidized for
destruction—have become almost a national scandal.
Would it not be
the very best strategy in the face of the world situation to dispatch some of
these surpluses to the Adriatic and to Yugoslavia? If potatoes will not stand
the voyage, certainly grain will. The best anti-communist, pro-American
propaganda at our disposal is American surplus grain in hungry countries here
and there the world around. Communism thrives on starvation. Communism
literally goes on its belly. In playing Santa Claus, Uncle Same might be
showing good business sense. Twenty or more divisions of Serbian soldiers right
on the spot are one of earth’s most dangerous points! Would it not be excellent
business for our government to help in the face of Yugoslavia’s famine?
We (editorial
plural) have mixed our metaphors, jumbled our idealism with prudential
economics in rather characteristic American style; this I confess. But more
than ever before, we are convinced that food is akin to friendship, and that
gestures of help are the best propaganda. Believing in preparedness, defending
right with might, I still would leave no door or help unopened, trusting that
friendship is better than ferocity and that the Christmas spirit is not
confined to one day in December.
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