We celebrated Christmas with our little family this past weekend. Now everyone is free to go and do whatever they want for the rest of the holidays. Early Sunday afternoon we led the way to the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery a few miles south of our house. Quite an amazing sight it was. This picture in no way shows all the monuments in the cemetery but gives an idea how it appears with the Christmas wreaths placed at the foot of each stone. I've forgotten the number buried out there, but I think it's between three and four thousand. Often times we've had to wait before entering Highway 1806 because a procession led by a hearse followed by mourners is passing by as it carries they escort a veteran on his final ride.
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How can a person write anything without thinking of the other funerals taking place now in Connecticut? It's been hard to watch the news lately because it's hard to wrap brains and emotions around the murders. Some rethinking is taking place among previous stalwarts of the 2nd Amendment. A reinterpretation of just what is meant by the language has been heard. Written in the day of single shot muzzle loading rifles, how does it apply to today's rapid-fire multitudinous bullets spraying from the tip of a barrel? Joe Scarborough, self-professed right-wing conservative, gave a compelling argument that gun ownership needs to be looked at again. He said that his previous gun views were no longer relevant. His video of the long argument he makes can still be found and viewed on MSNBC and probably other sites after Googling it.
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Movies and video games do their part in making violence seem normal or natural. When we last were in a theater for "Lincoln" the previews seemed especially graphic, basically terrible. One of them featured a slave turned gunslinger who had lots of scores to settle. Bang, bang.
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Maybe history is violence. Going back to the saying that if you think you've got it tough, read a history book, I currently reading William Manchester's third book in a trilogy, The Last Lion, which is the biography of Winston Churchill. He stands tall as a historical figure and the story of just how tall he stood when Hitler's bombs were falling all around him is worth the read. Churchill wasn't just a fat, toady looking little man. In an obscure fight known as the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 he rode as a cavalryman as England fought to keep its empire together. On horseback his unit was ordered to charge with sabers drawn. With a lame shoulder he knew he wouldn't be able to fight well, so he drew his pistol and entered the fight with it, killing three.
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It's best to get off the violence talk. We are in a season where we should proclaim peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Merry Christmas.
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Maybe history is violence. Going back to the saying that if you think you've got it tough, read a history book, I currently reading William Manchester's third book in a trilogy, The Last Lion, which is the biography of Winston Churchill. He stands tall as a historical figure and the story of just how tall he stood when Hitler's bombs were falling all around him is worth the read. Churchill wasn't just a fat, toady looking little man. In an obscure fight known as the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 he rode as a cavalryman as England fought to keep its empire together. On horseback his unit was ordered to charge with sabers drawn. With a lame shoulder he knew he wouldn't be able to fight well, so he drew his pistol and entered the fight with it, killing three.
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It's best to get off the violence talk. We are in a season where we should proclaim peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Merry Christmas.
