We're still fighting the Civil War

A year ago I started this blog and could not finish it. It still brings up strong feelings in me and I share it just to get it out of the draft list and because some of you are struggling as I am.

In September of 2019- One year ago! We traveled from Indiana - where we had the RV maintenance done and stayed at an AirBnB on Winona Lake, to Ohio- where we visited my brother and his wife at the home place and saw old high school friends - then we headed to Pennsylvania.

The AirBnB at Winona Lake.

Scenes from Indiana.

Another Indiana scene.

                                                          

On our way back to Virginia we stopped at the Gettysburg National Park in Gettysburg, PA.  I felt weepy after we watched a video at the Visitor’s Center that included the history that led to the Civil War. There were two questions. 1) Could the new states to the west have slaves or would they have only free labor? And 2) Could the southern states secede from the union as they wished? The economics of the south depended on the use of slavery so it is understandable that men wanted to defend their livelihood but also more understandable that there were many people who believed owning other people as property was wrong. I was weepy because I felt we are still fighting that war.

After the video we went into a room that featured an oil painted diorama from the early 1900’s depicting Pickett’s army carrying out General Robert E. Lee’s orders to attack the Union for the third day in a row in July of 1883. In addition to amazing detail in the painting, including two brothers who were injured that dreadful day who met the artist while he was painting it, the National Parks have added items and landscaping to the front of the picture. This makes you feel like you are on the battlefield itself with the canons booming, the smoke, the cries of men who were hit, and the orchard, the barns, and the surrounding hills.

Part of the mural at Gettysburg.

                                                               

                                                        The monument to the Virginia soldiers.

Over 6000 men died at Gettysburg. The Union soldiers are buried here and the Confederate soldiers from Virginia are buried back at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia- a place I have visited several times. I felt so sad because it hit me that we still have people in this country- an estimated 30-40%- that wish the Confederates would have won, that do not believe that all men are created equal, that would shoot to kill fellow Americans to defend these beliefs that go against our constitution and our moral fiber. It is not a stretch to fear we will face another Civil War.

                                                        The battlefields as they are today.

When Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg on the train and spoke to the people who were still dealing with the wounded in 132 sites in their town and surrounding homes, he spoke timeless words. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…. that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

We walked into the battlefields and saw the memorials to soldiers who came from many states and died on those fields. I tried to imagine someone from Alabama shooting someone from Pennsylvania. And someone from New York shooting someone from Virginia. That's what happened.

Did they die in vain? Are you aware there are preachers in this country that are advocating for Christians to form their own militias in preparation for ANOTHER civil war? Recently there was one -pastor -Rick Joyner - on the Jim Bakker Show. (Blows my mind that that crook can have a show.) This man says the rise of white supremacy is because liberals challenge RACISM. He advocates for being armed to fight your brother and neighbor. We should all be in tears.

Imagine my distress when we arrived back to the RV park and someone had a Confederate flag flying from the back of their camper. I wanted to ask- So you really wish the South had won and we would be the DIVIDED States of America? You really wish we could still own other people as property? Because that is what that flag means.      

We have to be back in Virginia for the Midwives For Haiti Board retreat. We are looking forward to seeing old friends, welcoming new board members, and finding a way forward for a project we still care about deeply. And we who work so hard to help the program survive, certainly do so because we believe all men and women are equal in God’s sight.

An addendum to this blog written a year ago:

September 8, 2020

Recently a Trump supporter told reporter Katy Tur he would "take up arms" if Trump did not win the election. Former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi said many other Trump supporters have said they would be willing to use firearms if the election does not go to Trump.

“I wish he were the only one,” Figliuzzi said. “But there’s every indication from online activity, the rhetoric, the groups calling for a civil war, calling for an amassing of weapons. There’s every indication that there’s a growing threat of violence.”

This is why we weep and pray.