SENTINEL WATCH December 22, 2008 Issue

A HOME FOR ALL TIME

Frederick R. Andresen

HOME, THEY SAY , is not a place, but where we belong to one another. And at Christmastime, the warmth, love, and companionship of family and friends are especially cherished. But in this somewhat fractured world, where a face-to-face gathering might be replaced by a virtual connection, and the costs and discomfort of traveling discourage real get-togethers, you're often left searching for a deeper sense of belonging.

This year—as all too often in previous years—the most challenged will probably be the loved ones separated by war and conflict. I know how that feels. In 1955, I spent my first Christmas away from home in a burned-out schoolhouse in the suburbs of Seoul, Korea. There were four of us soldier there—from Oklahoma, Kansas, New York, and Texas (me). We cut a branch off a leafless tree and stuck it in a pot of rocks—a bit like the construction my kids in later years would call a "Charlie Brown Christman tree." We hung colored strings on it, and sat around reading letters from home and sharing Christmas greetings.

Even though many years have passed since then, I clearly recall that it was what we heard in our hearts that counted. Absent were the colorful boxes wrapped with ribbon and love. But, as has been confirmed in the intervening years, I soon realized that love knows no boundaries or distance, and there was plenty of love right there in that faraway, cold schoolroom, for sure—as there is now, wherever we are.

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