Our Union upheld…

Tomorrow is Independence Day.  It was 163 years ago today however, when a monumental event may have prevented the United States from being split into two, separate countries.  It came with a horrific toll: 

The battlefield was not a testament to heroism.  It was an ugly health hazard - a field of corpses that deeply concerned Pennsylvania's governor.

Nor was that corpse-strewn field a monument to greatness.  The North's general, Meade, had so bungled the battle, leaving Lee to regroup, that he submitted his resignation to President Lincoln.  But Meade's opponent, Lee, had done no better, marching blindly into slaughter - a blunder so great that he submitted his resignation, too.

The battlefield was Gettysburg...

     Harry Beckwith 

Of all the Americans who have died in all the wars our country has ever fought, almost half - 620,000 - died in the Civil War.  Of all the Civil War battles, the one battle with the highest number of casualties was Gettysburg – 51,000 Americans.

Today, we should remember war is not some distant video game of drones.  James McPherson helps us remember the words of Lincoln’s greatest general that still resonates: 

Like Lincoln, he believed in a hard war and a soft peace. 

War is cruelty and you cannot refine it. 

Ulysses S. Grant 

I believe every American should visit the Gettysburg National Military Park and pay tribute to those courageous Americans that preserved our union in the face of immeasurable cruelty.  

In one of history’s most succinct and famous speeches Abraham Lincoln spoke to unite all Americans: 

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. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—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. 

July 4^th  and July 3^rd, are days for us to remember; to honor; and to rededicate ourselves to a united, United States of America.  

May God bless you; and may God bless America! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Remembering…

Next Monday, Americans will commemorate Memorial Day.  A day for remembering; to pause; to honor the men and women of our military; especially those who made - and are still making - the ultimate sacrifice: 

Then Tuesday, we will return to work; return to our daily challenges; return to war.  Will our country ever remember peace?  I wonder if we’re trying.  I wonder who remembers Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warning against “the grave implications” of a "military-industrial complex."  65 years later and we’re producing more war materiel than ever.  We are also bearing the highest national debt ever, increasing the federal budget for the “Department of War”. 

War permeates our daily lives.  We can’t escape it.  Unfortunately, in my lifetime which spans back to 1961 and before, its nothing new. It’s not cheap, either: 

Every time history repeats itself the price goes up. 

Unknown Sage 

Perhaps we could remember the 18^th century Prussian army officer and military theorist, Carl von Clausewitz who couldn’t have said it better 190 years later: 

War: The pursuit of political goals by other means. 

Today it’s another crisis; another nuclear bomb threat; a continuation of a holy war.  It’s the application of “advanced” science that Douglas Rushkoff spoke of: 

Whereas the original Renaissance gave us the ability to circumnavigate the globe, out current one gives us the ability to blow it up. 

Americans still have much to remember today in our ongoing pursuit of a more perfect union.  Thankfully: 

In every community, there is work to be done. 

In every nation, there are wounds to heal. 

In every heart, there is the power to do it. 

Marianne Williamson 

Yes Marianne, “In every heart, there is the power to do it!”  I know we Americans can.  I just hope we remember how. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Driven…

Growing up it was a big treat when my Dad took the family out for a drive.  Country roads mostly. Nighttime in the summer and fall; windows rolled down with fresh, outdoor smells permeating the car.  Running into a thunderstorm brought an added cornucopia of sights and sounds.  Gas was cheap back then.  Folks drove, well, leisurely I’d say.  No seat belts required. 

Those don’t seem to be the same sights and sounds and circumstances of driving today, true?  Unless you happen to live in a rural area (which we do not), going for a car ride is a whole different experience.  For one thing people are often in a hurry; a big hurry; driven even.  That can bring out the worst in us: 

Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in the one ahead. 

Bill McGlashen 

Cars today are built to go fast.  Car owners seem obliged to use the speed the car manufacturers have gone to such great lengths to provide.  And motorcyclists?  Don’t get me started!  It makes me wonder what the impetus is behind NASCAR on our roadways: 

Drive like you stole it! 

Unknown Sage 

Then there’s the matter of knowing where you’re going.  Until self-driving vehicles are the norm a human element is still involved.  Throughout my career I sold some of the most sophisticated business technology on the planet.  Even so my wife was amazed when I made it home from work without getting lost.  It was that human element. 

Today humans benefit from the latest and greatest GPS technology.  It doesn’t guarantee we won’t get lost, though: 

Oh well, one day the machines will completely take over and perhaps help us recapture the fun and leisurely experience of going for a drive. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Our Union upheld…

Friday is Independence Day.  It’s Thursday however, when a monumental event upholding our country’s union occurred.  Historians suggest it may have literally prevented the United States from being split into two, separate countries.  It came with a horrific toll. 

July 3, 1863 was the third and final, bloody day when the Battle of Gettysburg ended after “Pickett’s Charge” failed.  Of all the Americans who have died in all the wars our country has ever fought, almost half - 620,000 - died in the Civil War.  Of all the Civil War battles, the one battle with the highest number of casualties was Gettysburg – 51,000 Americans.

There are many stories about military generals, the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln.  Unlike today when war seems so distant; so abstract; as if war is a video game; perhaps we need to be reminded by James McPherson who quotes Lincoln’s greatest general, Ulysses S. Grant: 

Like Lincoln, he believed in a hard war and a soft peace.  War is cruelty and you cannot refine it. 

I believe every American should visit the Gettysburg National Military Park and pay tribute to those courageous Americans that preserved our union in the face of immeasurable cruelty. 

In one of history’s most succinct and famous speeches Abraham Lincoln spoke to unite all Americans: 

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. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—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. 

“… government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  Amen! 

July 4^th  and July 3^rd are indeed days for us to remember; to honor; and to rededicate ourselves to a united, United States of America. 

May God bless you; and may God bless America! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Remembering…

Today, war seams to permeate our daily lives.  War on drugs.  War against illegals.  War for the sake of radical religious fanaticism (ongoing for centuries in the Middle East, IMHO).  War against the spread of communism (ongoing since my grade school years and before).  That was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis: 

War: the pursuit of political goals by other means.

Carl von Clausewitz                       

I never served in the military.  I was fearful.  I remember.  My early adulthood was a time of social upheaval across the country.  It was the era of the Viet Nam War.  Presumably a war combating the “Domino Theory”.  It was the last period when we had military conscription, aka “the draft”.  (My draft number in 1971 was 271.  I remember.)

Today it’s ISIS; Tren de Aragua; Russia (still); China; the Panama Canal; the Arctic Circle; Canada!  We still face continuous nuclear bomb threats.  It’s the application of “advanced” science that Douglas Rushkoff spoke of:

Whereas the original Renaissance gave us the ability to circumnavigate the globe, out current one gives us the ability to blow it up.

Monday is Memorial Day.  A day that enables us to remember; to pause; to honor the men and women of our military; especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice:

Then Tuesday, we will return to work; return to our world problems; return to war.  Will our country ever remember peace?  I wonder if we’re even trying given Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address warning against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."  Sixty four years later and we’re still producing abundant war materiel.

America was founded by cultures of diversity wanting to live together - united.  Today, we have our differences and there is plenty of strife.  Even so, Americans have much to remember in the pursuit of a more perfect union.  Thankfully:

In every community, there is work to be done. 

  In every nation, there are wounds to heal.

    In every heart, there is the power to do it.

Marianne Williamson

Yes Marianne, “In every heart, there is the power to do it!”  We Americans can.  I just hope we remember how.

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.