In trying to look at our world with the Christmas spirit this year, the continuing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine hover on the periphery of my vision, with horrific images of death and destruction just waiting to overwhelm me if my concentration wavers for an instant. It would take a monumental effort at tunnel vision for me to see only snowflakes, egg nog, and good cheer all through December. So, if I can’t block them out, is there a way to combine them? And how helpful is a Christian celebration to Jews, Muslims, and people of other faiths in a time of deep crisis, many just hoping to survive?

Raised as a Methodist Christian, I somehow took the Christmas season and my own interpretation of the Christmas spirit more seriously than some other messages, embracing the religious and spiritual over Santa and his wondrous journey and gifts (a joyful story in itself). When our Sunday school elementary group participated in a simple Christmas pageant after a single practice, I always listened eagerly to the Bible story (as told in the book of Luke) when it was read aloud by a friend’s father in a booming baritone.

Mary gave birth to a boy and “wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them at the inn.” An angel comforted the fearful shepherds nearby, telling them “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Later, “a multitude of angels” appeared with great praise on their lips: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

This is the Christmas spirit that stays with me: “peace” and “good will toward men” (better said as “good will toward all,” today). It transcends Christianity and rules out war and other violence.

But in our complex world, even the idea of “peace” needs some explication. During the temporary cease-fire in Gaza, it was painfully obvious that the absence of violence did not mean there was “peace.” In words attributed to many different spiritual leaders and thinkers (including Einstein, Mandela, Spinoza, the Dalai Lama, MLK Jr., and Pope John Paul II), lasting peace, a concept central to all religions, requires that justice and equity exist along with silenced weapons. A peace built on inequality, or subjugating a group through force, cannot last.

The idea of “good will toward all” is also an extension of another universal religious sentiment. A simplified internet chart lists nine major religions with citations for their version of the Golden Rule. Treating others as you would like to be treated commands respect for others, since we all want to be treated with respect. Military assaults have no justification under the Rule, since no one wants to suffer as a victim.

One of the most moving presentations of the depth and breadth of this powerful sentiment was created when I was just 10, in 1961. It was before the Vietnam War had begun its destruction of thousands of American lives and those of millions of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, when many believed new president John Kennedy could encourage a more peaceful and cooperative world through programs like the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, and before the standoff of the Cuban missile crisis proved the USSR had dreams of global dominance that rivaled our own.

I don’t specifically remember seeing the “Golden Rule” cover on the Saturday Evening Post, although I might have in the library or a doctor’s office, but its power is undiminished in 60 years. Rockwell created faces and people from around the world, representing different countries, cultures, religions, ages, and genders to illustrate that the “others” in “do unto others” weren’t just our neighbors and those that looked like us, but included those we might consider strangers, even enemies.

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If I could have a Christmas wish this year, it would be that Rockwell’s cover and the Golden Rule could penetrate even the darkest areas of warfare, and that its message could move the hearts of those responsible for starting and stopping the violence, and soften American hearts towards each other and the wider world. As the Biblical angel announced, it is a message of “peace, good will toward men.”

Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on Saturdays. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.