Christmas wish: Peace on Earth

It was probably the very early 1950s, possibly 1951 when my older sister took my brother and me to the movies one afternoon. I lived with my three siblings and parents in a little house on Vassar Drive, about three blocks from the University of New Mexico.

We walked, so it must have been a movie theater near the campus. This was the era when a newsreel on current events played first and then a cartoon before the main feature. I don’t remember the movie we saw, but I do remember the “cartoon,” and it has stayed with me all these years.

The scene is a snowy, quaint little village, and the viewer could hear the singing of Christmas carols. The camera zoomed to a little church complete with a steeple, a bell in the belfry and snow covering the rooftop. The church is dark and empty, and we follow the camera as it takes us to the basement. There is a corner where the viewer can see a little Christmas tree and a church choir dressed in robes. The choir members, however, were little mice. When the song ended with the mice singing “peace on Earth, goodwill toward men,” silence filled the air.

A little mouse asked the conductor, “What are men?” The choir leader then explained that men once had lived on Earth. Sometimes they were called people, but they could never get along until one day they started fighting again. The war raged on and on until all the people had been killed. Now only mice remained.

That cartoon has stayed with me for over 70 years. Even as a small child, I hoped and prayed for world peace. I think of the discord in all parts of the globe now and over past decades — petty bickering, hating and manipulation of leaders, and self-serving people. I wonder if, indeed, we will kill off the human species.

Here is my wish: Let’s stop fearing others who are not like us, hate people who pray to a god that isn’t ours, or punish them for what they wear or how they style their hair. Let’s be kind, generous and, most of all, loving toward all. Let’s make a world where 7-year-old children can be safe and happy, and not spend time praying and wishing for world peace.

Patricia Fordney lives in Santa Fe.