Reflections on the Civil War

March 22, 2010
Franklin, TN

We are on a short trip in Tennessee. Last summer when our trip was interrupted by a family emergency, we had to cancel a B&B reservation in Corinth, MS. We couldn't get a refund, but were assured a year to use the reservation. So with a good air fare to Nashville, we headed south to visit Corinth and the Shiloh Civil War Battlefield, followed by a couple of days in Franklin, TN.

Several years ago, following a tour of the Fredericksburg, VA, battlefield, I swore off at least the intense Smithsonian tours. I could not bear to stand at yet another place where young men were sent wholesale to their slaughter, as happened so often in the Civil War battles [and in all wars, I'm sure].

I agreed to join Dick on the tour of Shiloh because I can always focus on other aspects of the place and time when not part of a large group "studying the battle".

However, my horror of the war continues unabated. I will never understand combat, especially the senseless slaughter of young men as seen in the Civil War and World War I.

Yesterday while visiting the Carter House here in Franklin, once again, we learned of an insane slaughter based on the hubris of generals pursuing serious tactical objectives. My stomach churns and my heart aches.

However, at the Corinth Civil War Interpretative Center, I experienced an understanding of the greater good of that war.

Art brought that greater understanding in a way that no stone monuments, pyramids of cannon balls, or even acres of white head stones ever will.

Here is the reflection I made sitting at the foot of the fountain.
http://www.posix.com/CW06/Corinth-water.jpg

18 March 2010
11 am
We have just watched two films and looked at many photographs and displays. But then we came outside to the water memorial I was extremely moved.

Art has made sense of it all.
The plinth at the far end is inscribed on the back side with the famous sentence from the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And on the front from the preamble to the Constitution:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."


The course of time (the water) springs from that plinth, through a time line of the Civil War. It moves through the piles of granite blocks marking year and each battle or arena of the war and flows under a bridge formed with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the Constitution.

I have walked battlefields and wept at the hills and fields where young men were sent in wave after wave to the slaughter. I've listened to complicated discussions of battle plans and troop positions. I've driven through acres of monuments--some gaudy, some moving, some utterly ridiculous. And I have left feeling dirty and bloodied by something I cannot begin to fathom.

Today sitting at the foot of this simple monument, I feel as if I have been washed in the water of baptism. I'll never be clean as long as men and women wage war against men, women, and children. But I feel cleaner, and perhaps I see a bit more clearly.

 

Blizzards of 2010

I'm sure that everyone who blogs in the Baltimore/DC area will be posting about this one. Lines at the grocery stores, power outages, not being dug out, record snow falls, bad road conditions, etc.

Apparently, we are going to top the 19th century snow record. Does that mean we can say this is the largest storm in two centuries?

Folks have started in on some serious punning. Snomaggedon, Snoverkill, Snoverload--you get the picture. Because everyone else has probably said all that needs to be said, Here's the Picture[s]

This series of photos is called "12 hours to go"






Sunday morning, blue skies.





Tuesday, somewhat cleared out. Still no snowplow.




Tuesday evening, Here we go again.




It is now Wednesday morning. Stay tuned for the continuing saga.

The Old Lady Caught in the Act

"What kind of people sit together in a restaurant and never talk to each other?"
"Married people"
--paraphrased from the movie "Two for the Road"

"What kind of people sit in a restaurant and talk about their ills and medicines?"
"Old ladies"
-- [or Old people, if you prefer]

This past Saturday afternoon, a friend and I had lunch together at a local pub. We hadn't seen each other since before Thanksgiving, so we had lots to catch up on. Of course, the first thing had to be an update on our health!!!

As we covered all the ills, doctor visits, and, of course, medicine, I said, "And the real kicker for me right now is my right knee."

I heard a hurrumph/chortle from the young man sitting in the booth behind me.

Caught in the very act--of being an old lady. This is even worse than the first time I heard my mother's words come out of my mouth. Egad!!

Happy New Year from the Old Lady.

Humility and the Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

Last Sunday we had the privilege to go Max McClean perform the Screwtape Letters at the Lansburgh theater in DC. We had front seats where we could see everything up close and personal, including the increasing perspiration on McClean's brow and the explosive spit as Wormwood's failure became clearer and clearer.

As you may have guessed from my last entry, I was fighting the pride of humility BIG TIME.

Uncle Screwtape covered the subject quite well [section XIV].

I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt—and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.

I so needed to hear that letter. I urge you to go to
http://members.fortunecity.com/phantom1/books2/c._s._lewis_-_the_screwtape_letters.htm
and read the entire section XIV.
I should probably memorize it.