One of the most poignant stories of our humanity is that of the 1914 Christmas Truce. The Great War had ground down to a brutalizing stalemate that fed on men’s souls and gnawed their bones. But on Christmas morning, 1914, humanity rose up. It began with music, songs from the German trenches, just after midnight. The songs became shared songs that became shared smiles and then handshakes. In that moment, mankind transcended the ultimate nationalism of “no man’s land”.
The moment passed. The horror returned. The lamps went out. No one of consequence had taken advantage of the moment, the troops themselves had let go of it, and the world went on to become inured to atrocity and hideousness.
The last four years have been a less bloodstained reminder of how quickly we become inured to atrocities. The last year, in particularly, has shown how little it takes to normalize the horrific. We have had a master class not just in how to desensitize us to criminality, lawlessness, and near despotism but in how to regularize it to a point of acceptance if not of participation. Was there a moment that we let pass? Maybe the Women’s March? The Access Hollywood tape? Any of the countless times in 2016 or 2017 that he told us exactly who and what he was and in which the Republican Party bowed down en masse?
Failure to act. Failure to act in the moment. Might these be among the greatest failings of humanity? Forty million died because everyone let Christmas Day pass in 1914. More than three-hundred thousand Americans have died and American democracy nearly did so because too many did not act in 2016. Now, President-Elect Biden, this is your moment. Act. Do not pretend that a thoroughly corrupt and fundamentally anti-American Republican Party will join you in governing. This is your moment and the country’s moment. We may not get another. With or without the Senate, act.