Lessons from the past

As our nation continues hurdling forward paying little mind to our collective history, we would do well to remember that we are in the midst of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.  From the spring of 2011 until the spring of 2015, we will be passing a different date each day that represents a century and a half's removal from the War Between the States.  

The Civil War brings out strong emotions in the students of history.  The issues of equality, independence, agriculture, commerce, religious destiny and national and sectional fervor that so defined that struggle are still being evaluated in our contemporary national conversation.  Just as the advocates of a strong central government inevitably came to clash with those bent on a sectional determinism, our current political discourse is dividing us along the lines of those who see government as part of the solution to our cultural crisis and those who view government as a necessary evil that is best in its most limited and restricted form.  It is unwise to conjecture as to what side of our current political argument the leaders of the past would have found themselves just as we as moderns cannot fully understand the state of mind held by our fore bearers in their time of crisis.  The best we can do is to learn from history what lessons it is willing to impart to us in contemporary times.  By looking at the lives, writings and legacies of the heroes of the American Civil War, we can see that many of those leaders were moved by a sense of honor, duty and loyalty which can hopefully be revived in our current times.  When men care more about the preservation of what they hold sacred than they do about personal fortune or accolades then we will have better national servants for our leaders.  When those leaders desire the greater good for the majority rather than special rights and privileges for an elite minority then we will have a government which better serves the needs of our citizens.  When every person contributes through active service to the betterment of the whole we will have a society where everyone is considered both equal and yet unique.  May we go forward in the hope that in our diversity there is strength and in our mutual respect there is hope for our nation.

Where are you from...

Where are you from?

I am from a place where everyone really does know your name and they are, in fact, almost always glad you came by to drink coffee and share some news.

From a place where you live long in the shadows of cotton pickers and beloved grandparents.  Where people trust people and know their banker by name.  It's a place that never seems to wake up despite the advance of technology and time.  

I'm from a place where country music and Gospel are the soundtracks of our days and King James Bibles are the script we just keep reading and living year after year.  

From a place where going out for fast food is a treat and where vacations are planned years in advance.  A place with a community library, a rural route and a full service gas station.

 I'm from a place where a revival is still news in town and when a new restaurant opens we all take guesses on how long it will stay.  

This is a place where everyone once was a Democrat and now just about everyone is a Republican and yet no one seems to have changed one thing they believe.  

It's a dinner of leftovers with your folks after a day of working in the yard or in the field or at the factory and it's knowing that some good people go to church and some good people don't.  It's believing in things like hard work, tough love and redemption.  

People still get baptized here and people still drift away.  

It's a place that most people want to leave when they are young and few actually do.  Most of those come back even if just to die.

From a town where everyone knows the undertaker personally and where people are still new even if they have lived here 30 years.  

Some people might say it's a backward place and in a lot of ways they would be right.  

Yet there is something special about knowing people truly and loving a place deeply and realizing that nowhere else would quite be home.

Thoughts on today

I have lived my entire adult life in a country in a state of war.  I was a senior in high school when 9/11 happened and for the last ten years have watched our country engage in conflict in an attempt to bring peace to the troubled regions of the world.  Had I been living as a 17 to 27-year-old in Afghanistan or Iraq in the last decade, my view of these conflicts would no doubt be far different.  The vast majority of Americans have not born the weight of our current wars.  Our military personnel and their families have endured the sacrifice of time, distance and, in some cases, life so that the rest of us could live comfortably and safely insulated from the harsh realities of conflict.  Unlike our national struggles of the past, this war has been fought by an all volunteer military.  While I sometimes may not agree with the reasoning or politics involved in the carrying out of the two present conflicts, I do believe that the ideals and virtues that the vast majority of our military personnel hold should be honored and respected.  I believe we, as those who have reaped the benefits of their labor, should be grateful.  Often lasting peace can only be found on the other side of conflict and I pray that the final result of our current conflicts will be a better, happier and more peaceful world.

Blessings.

Gettysburg Address

Recently a proposition to build a casino 1/2 mile from the National Military Park at Gettysburg, PA, was defeated.  Men who, while approaching the Civil War from the angles of filmmaker, writer, actor, composer and Medal of Honor recipent, offered their free services to the defeating of this proposal.  They are voices made famous in documentary and feature films associated with the Civil War.  Thankfully in America we still value and hold sacred certain places and how they have impacted our national conscience.  May it ever be so.