Christmas Truce in the Trenches

There's a Christmas story that my dad shares every once in a while and I thought I'd share it with all of you because it is a most wonderful story.

In 1914 during World War I, soldiers on both sides were stuck in awful trenches with no respite from the harsh winter elements and under constant threat from the enemy. On Christmas Eve however, German soldiers began a "Christmas Truce" by delivering chocolate cake to the British along with the resquest for a cease fire so they could have a concert. The British answered the German request with a gift of tobacco. Thus began a truce of magnificent proportion, never seen before, never to be seen again.

The cease fire spread a 27-mile length along the front. Soldiers from both sides met in no-mans-land, exchanged gifts, played a bit of soccer, and sang Christmas carols together. In some places, the truce lasted through New Year's Day and it touched soldiers from both sides deeply.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 1 John 4:10-11 (KJV)

Linus Pauling

Who's the supernerd to the left you ask? This is Linus Pauling, one of my top three favorite scientists of all time. Yup, I realize I'm a supernerd too. But listen to what this guy did during his lifetime:

He was born in 1901 and went to college at Oregon State University to study chemistry. The semester after he took Quantitative Analysis, the school invited him to teach the class. He went on to research the link between structures of different substances and their physical properties. His important discoveries helped found the emerging field of quantum chemistry. He also advanced the science of X-ray crystallography, a very important tool for determining chemical structures.

In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research done on the nature of chemical bonds. Along with his major contributions to the fields of physics and chemistry, he made massive contributions to the field of biology. He was the first to suggest that proteins were made primarily of alpha helices (think DNA) and beta sheets. He also discovered that sickle cell anemia was a molecular disease involving hemoglobin.

After World War II, he was deeply moved to warn people about the harms of nuclear weapons. He protests led him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962, making him the only person ever to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes.

C'mon, now tell me that's not cool...