Why Remembering Christmas 1944 Can Change Your Life

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NUTS! Why Remembering Christmas 1944
Can Change Your Life
by Marcus Brotherton on December 18, 2012 · 69 comments
in A Man's Life
Last Monday I crapped in a plastic bag.
There is no nice way t o say that. No genteel or sanitized way to describe the experience.
I’d just started taking a new medicine to combat a spastic colon, which I’ve battled on and off
for ten years. The medicine promised to do remarkable things.
Instead, it made my condition worse.
En route t o an appointment , I was gripped with a sudden, urgent, and uncontrollable need to
use the can. There were no exits from the freeway on that stretch of road, no public restrooms
or gas stations for miles in any direction. I wasn’t going to make it. So I did the only thing I could
think of. I pulled onto the shoulder, set my hazard lights, and did what needed to be done.
I tell that story for a reason.
In this day and age of Facebook personalities, it’s easy to start believing another person’s life is
as problem-free as described in an online bio. In my case, I’m a New York Times best selling
author. I’ve got a master’s degree. I’ve got a great wife and family and have travelled all over
the world. If you know me only by my bio, then I’m an enviable man.
But here’s the fuller version of the truth. There’s one tiny area of life—in my case, a medical
weakness—that I can’t seem to conquer no matt er how hard I try.
I bet that you, in your most honest moments, could say something similar about yourself.
You’re a capable and confident man. Still, there’s one area of your life where you’re hurting or
weak, where you lack control, or can’t seem to overcome. Even Superman had his kryptonite.
Achilles had his heel.
Maybe it’s a broken relationship. Or an incident of grief or illness or financial trouble. Maybe
you’re grappling with anger or meaninglessness or hopelessness or you’re suffering from an
addiction or you’re depressed or tired or you can’t get a job, or you work too hard and get paid
far less t han you’re worth. Maybe you’re simply stressed out and need a break.
Here’s hope. When I pulled off the road last Monday, I was genuinely miserable. I was sweating

and cursing, and feeling embarrassed, and worried that a motorcycle cop was going to come
along and ask me what I was doing. I was hating my life.
But in t hat moment, one word flashed through my mind. It’s a word weighted with
determination, and it reminded me not to give up, no matter what lif e threw at me.
NUTS!
Here’s t he story behind the word.
In late November 1944, Allied soldiers were charged with holding the line at a small Belgian town
called Bastogne. Word flew in that Hitler was pushing hard and fast, making a last-ditch effort
to swing the tide of the war back in his favor. Bastogne proved strategic due to seven
crossroads that snaked through the town, roads vital in the transport of troops and
ammunition.
If Hitler controlled Bastogne, he would win the war.
The Allied soldiers were rushed up to Bastogne in trucks. They hiked out into the forest in the
mud and freezing rain, made a perimeter around the town, dug foxholes, and waited. Food,
winter clothing, medical supplies, and ammunition were scarce. Some men didn’t even have
boots. They wrapped their feet in burlap bags to stay warm.
The enemy made a larger ring around the Allied t roops, dug in, and also waited. Snow began to
fall. The temperature plummeted. It became Belgium’s coldest winter in 30 years. The Allied
soldiers guarding Bastogne were surrounded.
Then the shelling began. Blood ran. Men on both sides took bullets, lost limbs, and died.
Weeks wore on with little progress. Christmas neared. The two armies were positioned so
closely to each other that at night Allied troops could hear their enemies across the line—they
were huddled in their foxholes singing Silent Night in German.
On Christmas Eve, 1944, General Anthony McAuliffe, commander of the 101
st
Airborne
Division, issued a flier to his men. It was headlined “Merry Christmas,” and the general wrote,
“What’s merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting. It’s cold. We aren’t home.” He went on to
praise Allied troops for st opping flat everything t he enemy was throwing at them. Then he
described a story that happened two days earlier.

On December 22, the commander of the German army had sent word to McAuliffe. The enemy
commander had painted a bleak picture of the Allied position, and insisted there was only one
option to save the Allied troops from total annihilation.
Surrender.
When McAuliff e read the demands, he fumed, then sent back to the German commander a
reply of only one word.
NUTS!
When t he messenger asked for further explanation, he was told, “It’s the equivalent of saying,
‘Go to hell.’”
So, how does remembering Christmas 1944 change your life?
Yesterday evening I went to the mall with my family to do some Christmas shopping. We went
into The Gap, and I noticed on the wall a recently-released poster of Michael J. Fox and his wife
Tracy Pollan. They were doing a promotional piece to advertise the st ore.
Michael and Tracy were poised in a warm embrace. Tracy’s face was turned away from the
camera, but Michael was staring straight into the lens. There were lines underneath his eyes.
Some lines from age. Some from laught er. Some from experience. Some from fighting.
And I stared at that poster.
I stared at it a long time.
Michael J. Fox, like Muhammad Ali, has been battling Parkinson’s disease for years. At present,
it’s still an unwinnable disease, and its symptoms have only increased in Michael over time.
But here was Michael on a poster in The Gap.
Still working.
Still loving his wife.
Still fighting hard.
Still saying NUTS!
No matter what weakness or problem you’re battling, a dark option always exists to crumble
under life’s hardships. When you feel miserable, you’re tempted to quit under the weight of the
difficulty.
That’s why remembering Christmas 1944 can change your life. It reminds you that even when
life hits you hard, even if you’re fighting in a frozen forest, even if you have Parkinson’s, even if

you’re crapping in a bag by the side of the freeway, you keep on going.
You refuse to surrender.
You say, NUTS!
When faced with a difficulty, what ways have you found to persevere through?
_______________________
Marcus Brotherton is a regular contributor to Art of Manliness. Read his blog, Men Who Lead
Well, at: www.marcusbrotherton.com
Photos Courtesy of Joe Muccia