Deflection

Today, was really a nice day for November, but maybe the days are all like this down here. Partly sunny, windy at times, and the temperature high was 76 degrees.

Today, I reviewed the Shiloh Battlefield and the city of Corinth. What really struck me was the number of dead soldiers. Did they really have to die? It seems to make life as being useless. When the South advanced, they left bodies on the ground; and, finally, when the Federals finally advance to the south they were walking over solders from the north and south. If any one reads about our solders experience in the Pacific treater of war during WWII, it was the same thing with our solders walking over our and the Japanese solders as they were taking over the Islands, except for two obvious differences, the bodies were rapidly deteriorating in the Pacific sun and the Japanese would mutilated our solder’s bodies. It is really impossible to make sense of out of the chaos; even Abraham Lincoln tried to make sense of this shameless killing.

My nephew Wyatt has suggested that I take up writing philosophy, since I have retired, and maybe he has a point, since he has spent time around me. So, with that type of recommendation, I guess that I will give it a try. What is a life? As we were growing up, we were taught that there is nothing more important than a life; and, as we live our daily life, we do give life the number one priority. This can be seen in the oath that medical doctors take to be physicians. By look at it from a contrast, the lives of those dead on the battlefield mean nothing. The South had 44,699 solders, and of those solders 1,728 were killed, 8,012 Wounded, and 959 missing; and the North had 66,812 soldiers were 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 missing. The ones that were killed probably identified and have gravestones. What about the missing? Were they put in mass graves? Or, even worse, were their bodies in pieces and unable to find in the mud? What is the value of these lives? By studying Lincoln, it becomes clear that he had a good understanding of the Holy Bible, and even he had a hard time justify these deaths in the Gettysburg Address.

How does an officer write a letter to the family when the body cannot be found? That almost seems like an impossible. How does an officer thorn apart by seeing the bodies on the ground and carry out his responsibilities? This depended on the officer. By studying the history of war, it is the officer’s daily diaries that get published years later. The officers have to pull their feelings together to command their troops. By the studying of this history, it is a study of human behavior. For example, early in the Civil War, it was General Sherman that was pull out of the war because of mental fatigue; but, later, he rode with his Calvary to the sea. It is still a tough question on how does parents take the lost of the son/sons in war after they put in their life’s working into making their son/sons responsible citizens, and then, at an yearly age, they are gone. Death is so final. A simple gravestone. It is hard to fathom.

I guess that I will stop for tonight, since this path of logic is wearing me out. As for tomorrow, I am going to take another challenge by going to the grave site of Merriwether Lewis, since they are still trying to figure out if his death was a suicide or murder.

Roger