Songs for Christmas: Happy Christmas (War Is Over)

We saw in the previous post how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the 19th century used poetry in an attempt to reconcile the realities of war and personal loss with the Christmas message of hope for peace on earth. Similarly, John Lennon in the 1970s used music (and a few billboards) to call our attention to the need to act upon "the better angels of our nature"  (to use Lincoln's phrase). As the song continues to be heard over the airwaves each Christmas, it calls  us to actually seek the peace that we sing about during this season.

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