From what I can surmise, Virginia is one large piece of hollowed ground. The bloody civil war that brought about great change in this country was fought in "all the land round about" and luckily, many of the battlegrounds are preserved as space not to be overcome by housing developments, shopping malls and other consumerism minutia.
I decided to once again visit the spot of the Battle of Bull Run on this July 4th. It is actually most famous for Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, a confederate general who was known for being one of the most gifted tactical commanders in United States history. You can find that on wikipedia today. General Robert E. Lee would agree. They were close friends and relied on each other in battle.
Though "a confederate," he was a smart, dedicated man that held strong to his values. If you read about his life, he excelled at whatever he put his mind to - education, religion, war, teaching, etc. He had slaves, but most of them came to him asking he take them in and he treated them well. It sounded like he wasn't so sure about slavery, but that somehow it was God's will. He spent much of his religious endeavors preaching to historically black congregations and helping them "see the light" despite their lot in life.
Which leads me to...
As a teenager I was indoctrinated (for lack of a better word) in the North (Michigan) in the causes/impacts of civil war - the evil Southern states, the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the economics of cotton, etc. As a college student I majored in history (a mistake because of my inability to remember names and dates) and explored all sides of the civil war causes as well as the outcomes.
NOTE: Make no mistake, SLAVERY is not good. It was a major/worst factor (among many, many factors) surrounding the civil war. My comments are based upon abhorrence of the practice of treating anyone less than "all men are created equal."
Through the course of my experiences I have realized that:
- All Northerners and Southerners of that day held certain beliefs based upon the information and experience they had to that point in time.
- All of us today are looking at the past through glasses that are colored by way more experiences and information than anyone has had in generations prior to us.
- All Southerners were not slave owners. All Northerners were not slave free.
- All Southerners that were slave owners were not bad. But, some where very bad. There were some terrible Northerners that treated slaves/non-slaves of the African-American race very poorly.
- Many Southerns and Northerners had good intentions for their state and country based upon solid values that they gained from personal scripture study, the spirit, and their religious leaders.
- Many Southerns AND Northerners did not have good intentions based upon their value system.
- Many Northerners weren't wanting a Union based upon solid moral values, but rather for political and/or economic gain. Many Southerns had alternative motives than sometimes assigned to them as well.
- Abraham Lincoln, a good man, may or may have not have understood the full impact of the "all men are created equal" until the Gettysburg Address. Question: If you were raised in that day, would you? All of us would heartily say "Of course I would treat all equally" and yet equally intelligent people back in that day did not. Why? Following the masses? Scared to admit what their heart was telling them?
My point is this: There were many people that, however
mis-guided, thought that they were fighting for the right causes. There were good people fighting on both sides. There were terrible people fighting on both sides. The outcomes that should be (all men created equal, a unified country, no slavery) is painfully obvious to us today. It is awful to think of the possibilities otherwise. However, people like me back in the day made decisions that seem irrational to many of us now.
We continue to go through similar arguments today (though on perhaps slightly different issues). There are great people on both sides of the issues AND there are rotten people on both sides of issues.
I'm realizing more and more how important it is to be living right, listening to spiritual guidance from above and always ensuring that my actions are in line with "What would Jesus do?" or "Is this Heavenly Father's path for me?" or "what is truth amongst all of the voices?"
Thank goodness for a country where we can have the freedom to pursue the right to openly share our ideas and standards with others and live them!
Are there any leaders out there today that are like Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson? If they are, they are rare. At least they are not often in the highest leadership roles of the country. The final candidates that we had to choose from (at least from the two major political parties in the United States) were neither desirable or had the right combination of skills (REAL morals as reflected in their personal life activities, meaningful and relevant experience or signs of thought leadership). On that point, I should probably stop. (-:
But, thank goodness that good leaders sometimes fail - and fail at just the right time for history to change. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson rarely failed, but they had their biggest failures just at the time our future country needed it most. Perhaps they knew or realized they were wrong. Or, perhaps not. Perhaps God willed that certain things didn't fall into place so that His purposes could go forward.
Maybe I got off track with this post, but my little walk made me think about a few things. Gratitude for our nation, gratitude for people who took a stand (like a stone wall) and a reminder to be a strong, stalwart, and devoted person in any capacity in my life.
God Bless America! Let's get back to being more "like a stone wall."
