Happy Xmas (war is over)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote one of my favorite Christmas songs way back in 1971.

Maybe this is all too obvious and we all know the parallels by now, but the US was in an unpopular war in Iraq Vietnam. So John and Yoko repsonded by purchasing an number of billboards that stated:

"WAR IS OVER! (if you want it) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko"

the song (the one I find to be so catchy and hardly give a second thought to) has a chorus that repeats 'war is over. if you want it. war is over now.'

Now, forty years later, I'm reading this article titled

"US FORMALLY DECLARES END OF IRAQ WAR"

and the song has a whole new meaning. But the relief of hearing "War is Over" doesn't feel as sweet as I thought it might, because 4,500 american lives were lost and 100,000 Iraqis have died as well.  oh yeah, and we're still fighting another war.

But yet again John Lennon was way ahead of his time. His lyrics are both hopeful and sad, somehow fitting this mood quite perfectly.

"And so this is Christmas for weak and for strong,
The rich and the poor ones, the road is so long."


There is a long road. And it's all really muddled. I've been thinking a lot about the sacrifice of the service men and women. I'm truly grateful for them.. many of whom will miss christmas with their families.
For the ones who came home with injury and emotional trauma, the war is not over. Its not simple. But then again there it is, in the papers. 'War is Over.' Obama said he would pull the troops out and he did. War is over. If you want it. Maybe in some ways it is that simple.

There's not really a way to wrap this up neatly. So I'll just have John take it away...