Almost every day I jot down sentences, phrases, and quotes that make me, for one reason or another, do a double take when I hear or see them.  I've got piles of the stuff accumulated over the years from magazines, newspapers, radio, television, and various personalities, including friends and relatives.
Sometimes it is the stuff I've heard since childhood, when suddenly I hear it as an adult and I am so astonished at the new hearing.  Sometimes it is the stuff that makes me question the path I'm on, and so I must reconsider my direction.  At other times it validates my path, and then I'm ready to storm the world. 
One of these phrases that has recently given me pause comes to us every year at Christmas time.  I'm sure you know it by heart -- or do you?  Recall the words of the multitude of heavenly host at the birth of Jesus:  "Glory to God on the highest, and peace among men of good will."
I've heard it for years, and sung it for years, but only in recent days have I heard it with new ears.  Do you see that it does not say "peace on earth, good will to men"?  Yet that is what the media and even our churches have taught us -- without ill intent, of course.   It is also what poets and songwriters have given us in rhythm and rhyme.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

The correct translation, according to at least three Bibles, is "peace among men of good will."
  Do you see the difference?  The angels did not greet the sacred evening with tidings of peace to everyone, but with tidings of peace to men of good will.
If we speak it and read it and sing it correctly, we may understand more clearly why we don't have peace in the world, why we don't have peace in the Holy Land, in Sri Lanka, in the Philippines, and Yugoslavia.  With a correct reading we may understand why we don't have peace in some families and neighborhoods.  It could help explain why we don't have peace in Florida and in the nation with the results of the recent presidential election.  There are people without good will.  The multitude of heavenly host brought peace to men of good will.

And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong & mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Only this afternoon, on a jaunt outside of town, I heard two opposing statements:  "If George W. wins the election, he'll give the surplus to all of his rich friends."  The other:  "If Al Gore wins the election, he'll give the surplus to all of those who don't work for a living."
Neither of those sentiments is worthy of being repeated, and yet I do so to make a point.  The point is that these United States of America are not so united anymore.  They're not united in facts and figures nor in the pursuit of truth, and this is pretty scary to me.  How astonished I was to hear that some people think the bickering in Florida might be related to "surplus."
On second thought, I realize that, for the average man on the street, for those with little or no power, it could, indeed, be related to surplus.  But for those in power, it's related to keeping abortion available on demand, even in the most grotesque and gruesome ways. 
"Abortion?" you say.  "What tree are you swinging from?" you ask.
Mark my word.  I'm right.  For people in power, the election is related solely to upcoming Supreme Court nominees.  This is a one-issue nation, regardless of the rhetoric and gobbledygook the powerful people shove in our faces every time we turn on a channel or open most newspapers and magazines.  In high places there are people without good will.

Then pealed the bells more loud & deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

So why do I keep singing the words of a song that misquotes the heavenly host?  I like to sing -- and who am I to disagree with the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
Besides, it's okay to wish peace on earth and good will to men.  By asking and begging and praying for good will among men, we are asking for a change of hearts.  Only in changing hearts will we find the peace for which the world hungers.  With good hearts, we will have good will.  With good will, we will have peace.  The angels said so!
"Glory to God on the highest, and peace among men of good will."
Love, Sue