For a great many people, December is synonymous with the celebration of peace and love.
Many songs of the season, secular and religious, speak of peace on earth and good will toward men.
Too bad there is so little of it.
Beyond the high profile and bloody conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, there are civil wars, ethnic violence and terrorist insurgencies in dozens of other countries, some of which are practically unknown to us.
There is frustratingly little we can do to bring peace to such troubled places.
But we can commit to making our own lives more peaceful, beginning with a return to civility in our public discourse.
The exercise of free speech, often anonymously -- particularly in social media -- has led to a level of invective approaching hatred. The most vile truly is hate speech and should be prosecuted as such.
Ironically, some of the most intolerant language comes from those who claim to speak with religious authority to angrily condemn those with whom they disagree.
But Islam teaches “the best of you are the ones who control their anger and forgive others.”
The Torah decries hatred and instructs the faithful to love ones neighbour as one’s self.
And Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth is celebrated this month, taught his followers to “love your enemies” and to “pray for those who persecute you.”
In such counsel is found the recipe for peace on earth. But it begins with each of us.
