Weihnachten 1914

It is 2:00 in the morning and most of our men are asleep in their dugouts -- yet I could not sleep myself before writing to you of the wonderful events of Christmas Eve. In truth, what happened seems almost like a fairy tale, and if I hadn't been through it myself, I would scarce believe it. Just imagine: While you and the family sang carols before the fire there in London, I did the same with enemy soldiers here on the battlefields of France!

As I wrote before, there has been little serious fighting of late. The first battles of the war left so many dead that both sides have held back until replacements could come from home. So we have mostly stayed in our trenches and waited. But what a terrible waiting it has been! Knowing that any moment an artillery shell might land and explode beside us in the trench, killing or maiming several men. And in daylight not daring to lift our heads above ground, for fear of a sniper's bullet. And the rain -- it has fallen almost daily. Of course, it collects right in our trenches, where we must bail it out with pots and pans. And with the rain has come mud -- a good foot or more deep. It splatters and cakes everything, and constantly sucks at our boots. One new recruit got his feet stuck in it, and then his hands too when he tried to get out -- just like in that American story of the tar baby!

Through all this, we couldn't help feeling curious about the German soldiers across the way. After all, they faced the same dangers we did, and slogged about in the same muck. What's more, their first trench was only 50 yards from ours. Between us lay No Man's Land, bordered on both sides by barbed wire -- yet they were close enough we sometimes heard their voices. Of course, we hated them when they killed our friends. But other times, we joked about them and almost felt we had something in common. And now it seems they felt the same. Just yesterday morning -- Christmas Eve Day -- we had our first good freeze. Cold as we were, we welcomed it, because at least the mud froze solid. Everything was tinged white with frost, while a bright sun shone over all. Perfect Christmas weather.

During the day, there was little shelling or rifle fire from either side. And as darkness fell on our Christmas Eve, the shooting stopped entirely. Our first complete silence in months! We hoped it might promise a peaceful holiday, but we didn't count on it. We'd been told the Germans might attack and try to catch us off guard. I went to the dugout to rest, and lying on my cot, I must have drifted asleep. All at once my friend John was shaking me awake, saying, "Come and see! See what the Germans are doing!" I grabbed my rifle, stumbled out into the trench, and stuck my head cautiously above the sandbags.

I never hope to see a stranger and more lovely sight. Clusters of tiny lights were shining all along the German line, left and right as far as the eye could see. "What is it?" I asked in bewilderment, and John answered, "Christmas trees!" And so it was. The Germans had placed Christmas trees in front of their trenches, lit by candle or lantern like beacons of good will. And then we heard their voices raised in song.
"Stille nacht, heilige nacht...."
This carol may not yet be familiar to us in Britain, but John knew it and translated: "Silent night, holy night." I've never heard one lovelier -- or more meaningful, in that quiet, clear night, its dark softened by a first-quarter moon. When the song finished, the men in our trenches applauded. Yes, British soldiers applauding Germans! Then one of our own men started singing, and we all joined in.
"The first Nowell, the angel did say...."
In truth, we sounded not nearly as good as the Germans, with their fine harmonies. But they responded with enthusiastic applause of their own and then began another.
"O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum...."
Then we replied.
"O come all ye faithful...."
But this time they joined in, singing the same words in Latin.
"Adeste fideles...."
British and German harmonizing across No Man's Land! I would have thought nothing could be more amazing -- but what came next was more so. "English, come over!" we heard one of them shout. "You no shoot, we no shoot." There in the trenches, we looked at each other in bewilderment. Then one of us shouted jokingly, "You come over here." To our astonishment, we saw two figures rise from the trench, climb over their barbed wire, and advance unprotected across No Man's Land. One of them called, "Send officer to talk." I saw one of our men lift his rifle to the ready, and no doubt others did the same -- but our captain called out, "Hold your fire." Then he climbed out and went to meet the Germans halfway. We heard them talking, and a few minutes later, the captain came back with a German cigar in his mouth! "We've agreed there will be no shooting before midnight tomorrow," he announced. "But sentries are to remain on duty, and the rest of you, stay alert."

Across the way, we could make out groups of two or three men starting out of trenches and coming toward us. Then some of us were climbing out too, and in minutes more, there we were in No Man's Land, over a hundred soldiers and officers of each side, shaking hands with men we'd been trying to kill just hours earlier! Before long a bonfire was built, and around it we mingled – British khaki and German grey. I must say, the Germans were the better dressed, with fresh uniforms for the holiday. Only a couple of our men knew German, but more of the Germans knew English. I asked one of them why that was. "Because many have worked in England!" he said. "Before all this, I was a waiter at the Hotel Cecil. Perhaps I waited on your table!" "Perhaps you did!" I said, laughing.

He told me he had a girlfriend in London and that the war had interrupted their plans for marriage. I told him, "Don't worry. We'll have you beat by Easter, then you can come back and marry the girl." He laughed at that. Then he asked if I'd send her a postcard he'd give me later, and I promised I would. Another German had been a porter at Victoria Station. He showed me a picture of his family back in Munich. His eldest sister was so lovely, I said I should like to meet her someday. He beamed and said he would like that very much and gave me his family's address.

Even those who could not converse could still exchange gifts – our cigarettes for their cigars, our tea for their coffee, our corned beef for their sausage. Badges and buttons from uniforms changed owners, and one of our lads walked off with the infamous spiked helmet! I myself traded a jackknife for a leather equipment belt -- a fine souvenir to show when I get home. Newspapers too changed hands, and the Germans howled with laughter at ours. They assured us that France was finished and Russia nearly beaten too. We told them that was nonsense, and one of them said, "Well, you believe your newspapers and we'll believe ours." Clearly they are lied to -- yet after meeting these men, I wonder how truthful our own newspapers have been. These are not the "savage barbarians" we've read so much about. They are men with homes and families, hopes and fears, principles and, yes, love of country. In other words, men like ourselves. Why are we led to believe otherwise?

As it grew late, a few more songs were traded around the fire, and then all joined in for -- I am not lying to you -- "Auld Lang Syne." Then we parted with promises to meet again tomorrow, and even some talk of a football match. I was just starting back to the trenches when an older German clutched my arm. "My God," he said, "why cannot we have peace and all go home?" I told him gently, "That you must ask your emperor." He looked at me then, searchingly. "Perhaps, my friend. But also we must ask our hearts." And so, dear sister, tell me, has there ever been such a Christmas Eve in all history? And what does it all mean, this impossible befriending of enemies?

For the fighting here, of course, it means regrettably little. Decent fellows those soldiers may be, but they follow orders and we do the same. Besides, we are here to stop their army and send it home, and never could we shirk that duty. Still, one cannot help imagine what would happen if the spirit shown here were caught by the nations of the world. Of course, disputes must always arise. But what if our leaders were to offer well wishes in place of warnings? Songs in place of slurs? Presents in place of reprisals? Would not all war end at once? All nations say they want peace. Yet on this Christmas morning, I wonder if we want it quite enough... signed your loving brother Tom..

...Ach...so

A Cow-Based Economics Lesson

SOCIALISM

You have 2 cows.

You give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.

The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows.

No balance sheet provided with the release.

The public then buys your bull.

SURREALISM

You have two giraffes.

The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.

Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you

want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.

You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and market it worldwide.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.

You decide to have lunch.

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.

You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them.

You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.

You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.

You tell them that you have none.

No-one believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.

You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Business seems pretty good.

You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

You have two cows.

The one on the left looks very attractive

Du wirst es nicht sogleich bemerken, mein Freund. Doch, sie werden Dich finden...

Aber sie werden dich finden und dann auch erledigen.

Einfach so.

Mit dem Stiefelabsatz zertreten wirst du, wie eine tolldreiste Küchenschabe die ins helle Licht getanzt.

Sie werden sich Vorwürfe machen. Danach. Wenn sie dich erledigt haben. Sie sagen untereinander:

Warum haben wir diese Wanze nicht früher geknackt?

Eine verrückte Situation ganz gewisslich. Sie verfolgen dich, seit du zu ihnen übertratest. Du verfolgst sie, seit du zu ihnen fandest. Doppelagent.

Sie werden auf deine Spur kommen.

Du hast nur noch eine Möglichkeit:

Studiere. Lerne. Befasse dich mit allen Formen der Kultur. Befasse dich mit Darwin und verstehe dich als ein Teil der Natur. Küchenschaben sind wertvolle Kulturhelfer. Wanzen sind ein Indikator für die Reinlichkeit eines Clans. Kulturgut also.

Und du? - Du mußt dich dann entscheiden .....

Du gehst keine getretenen Wege, sagst du.

Trapper kannst du werden. Gut.

Du mußt dir nur treu bleiben: Der Weg zur Fremdenlegion ist ja nun aber doch bereits ein weit ausgetretener Trampelpfad.

Sind das dann deine eigenen Wege?

....und wo bist Du nun untergetaucht?

Prof.Dr. Internetistik, Dr. Edisum, Dr. Trentor - Sir Lars Jane Dahn

Um es kurz zu machen: Gestern sprach ich mit Gott

Durch einen Zufall kam es zu diesem Gespräch:

Ich fuhr mit meinem Fahrrad eine viel zu enge Kurve und kam zu Fall.

Gott: Was machst du für einen Unsinn?
- Das passt doch überhaupt nicht !
- Willst du mir in meine Pläne reinpfuschen du Spinner ?

Ich: Bist du Gott ?

Gott: Ich geb's zu ! - Ich bin der ich bin !

- - - Ich wurde von einem unglaublichen Glücksgefühl umströmt.
- - - Der Begriff "Gnade" versuchte sich durchzusetzen,
- - - hatte aber Probleme mit "Angst" und "Trauer"...

Gott: Hör' auf mit dem Scheiß ! - Du bist nicht tot !

- - - Da befiel mich ein gigantischer Mut und mit starkem Willen wurde ich mutwillig.

Ich: Da bist du also - Gott !
- Eure Lächerlichkeit hat sich also endlich dazu bequemt zu mir zu kommen !

Gott: Ich war schon immer bei dir, du Depp !
- Wo sollte ich sonst wohl sein ?


Dokumentiert und echt erlebt:

--- Johannes Nepomuk Huber ---
(Anteilseigner im Schreibnetz-Imperium)
http://schreibnetz.twoday.net/stories/16565618/

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Und wieder sind sie dabei mit der Iran atom waffen sache..

Die Amerikaner vergessen immer wieder dass sie den ganzen atomkram in Iran selbst anfingen, als der verdammte Shaw noch seine Herrschaft ueber das Land hatte.
Andere news, Penn State sportsikon mit Buben herumgespielt...und dann diese ganz sinnlosen Proteste in den US sowie in Kanada..
Was hat das mit Pirmasens zu tun? Nichts.

six months later

...ja, ich bin noch da...wohl schon eine geraume weile her seit ich mich hier mal meldete, doch will ich wieder versuchen irgendwie weiterzumachen. Leider gingen einige meiner komputers kaputt...ueberlasted und verunreinigt, aber was kann man machen, gute programs und files sind nun verloren.

...actually, this is a test...the publish mode has failed to work some time ago and my stuff ended up in draft mode only...finally got this thing working after cleaning out a bunch of useless spam in many forms.

...the fellow on the left...Cristobal Colon or as we know him Chris Columbus...

April 2006 fing ich diesen we-blog an...

Schon 5 Jahre her seit ich diesen oder dieses Blog anfing...wollte das in Deutsch machen aber das war nicht immer leicht. Vorher fing ich den blog worldconcerns.blogspot.com an....,erst Deutsch dann English..ist also noch aelter als das Pirmasenser Ding. Nun werde ich wohl in German weitermachenSchon seit einem Jahr sehe ich hier im TV etliche news shows in originalsprache oder translated in English an. Es ist interessant die News mal etwas anders zu sehen wie...Deutsche Welle, BBC, Russia-TV und etliche andere Stationen. Werde damit wohl hier un da kommentieren.

kompliziert....und nun das!

...ist schon eine Weile her seit ich hier versucht habe in Deutsch zu fungieren.Hatte schon fast vergessen warum ich irgendwann mal vom Deutsch zu English umgeschalted hatte. Einfach. Irgend ein Trottel hat mich immer wieder beleidigt und mir wurde das dann doch zu viel, muss ich schon zugeben. Dann habe ich ihm im Februar mal frohe Weihnachten gewuenscht. Dann mal zu seinem Ramsch " Quatsch gesagt" und der Redeschwall ging weiter.

Nach zwei Jahren Sendepause ist wohl nun Ruhe und ich kann nun in Deutsch weiter wursteln. Muss schnell sagen dass obwohl Deutsch ( Pirmasenserisch) wohl meine Heimatsprache ist hatte ich kaum Gelegenheit oder Interesse mich damit weiter zu bilden.

Musste so schnell wie moeglich in Nordamerika weiter kommen und Sprache,Canadian English, war dabei wichtig.

Nun zurueck ins Deutsch. Bitte meinen alten Kram besuchen, sehr viel davon ist in

Deutsch..see OLDER POSTS die Seite runter...

stoning.....murder

stoning

please be careful when opening this link....the movie is about a 17 year old girl being stoned to death,actual footage taken with cell phones. A gruesome murder,stoning, all in the name of religion.

NEWS

Frankly, the situation in Egypt was just a matter of time...the population doubled in the last 30 years since Mubarak took over the chief in charge dick-tatorship. From 40...now over 80 Million people...about the same as the population of Germany...
Like many countries in the region Egypt is a difficult country to govern. The democratic process is complicated and to a large extend has not worked...in Southern Europe or anywhere in Africa as far as I can judge. Ever since the last monarch got kicked out by the military,(Farouk ) Nasser,Nagib,Sadat...all tried their best.

cleanupyourgadget...

http://www.grc.com/dcom/