On the Battlefield

Last sunday my friend and I took a trip to Gettysburg for fresh air and excercise but mostly to test this new camera. Gettysburg is a strange and comforting place for me. I'm not sure I can explain that even a little. In any case it holds a lot of history and memory in an almost tangible way. Which is the part I enjoy, as apposed to the history behind it all. It was hot and sunny and I haven't had that kind of workout in to long. Parts of me still hurt.

As you walk the roads of the battlefield you can't avoid the cannons and monuments which have been erected to pay respects, serve as thanks, and remind us of those who dropped in those few days. Not the individuals as much as their leaders, not the men and boys as much as the brigades and calvalrys. Names almost lost to time as in most wars. From the view of the clouds it must have looked much like the two any armies that meet outside at the rosebush every summer. The two set up shop about five feet from one another in the sidewalk and then they grow in number for a while. At some point one scout will find another and the warriors and workers rush to battle. At first mixing slightly in scirmishes then moving armies together in a mass of twitching red and black. Going at it for hours. From way up where I look it is unimportant though interesting and somewhat tragic. But from the warrior on the fields view it is an intense struggle for life. Soldiers like you standing in the open, on the ridges and in the valleys pushing themselves for their people or their cause. If they lose all is lost. If they win all seems gained. But the fight is all their is right then. And when it is all over, for some time, their are bodies scattered and laying about. Red and Black. Not neatly placed or properly cared for, but torn and broken, smashed and ravaged. Perhaps even a wounded few who survived the fight only to die amongst their fallen comrads anyway. Both armies retreat to their strongholds, one claiming victory and the other claiming defeat. Neither one has gained much more than a few square feet and the title of power in the land. And so we pay homage to those who sacrificed in the best way we can. We right books and preserve documents and build monuments. Are we really thankfull for what they did? Are we really understanding of what they were doing? Do most of us even understand why we are still fighting? I hope we do.

I am a non agreesive (normally) person and very non-confrontational by nature. Though I do enjoy digging in for a good fight (verbal) if the purpose is right. I don't think the vast majority of wars is right but I think it can serve many purposes a few of which are necessary. Historicaly, even God has at times given right to war man against man. Though that is not to say often and never for mans own purposes and plans. And so I agree with both sides on average at least a little. Wars are no more hard to justify or understand than any other smaller scale fight. The only difference is the cost. The tragic cost.


Overall the pictures, of no specific thing, came out well though I have much to learn about how this camera works.

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