As we remember Memorial Day this weekend, let's not forget the deadliest war in American history - the Civil War. Both sides, both Americans suffered great loses.
As a civilian, I can't fathom the depths of which many of our veterans have suffered, especially those who were POWs - Prisoners of War.
This George Root (1820 - 1895) Civil War song, Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!, of a Union prisoner does give a glimpse into the angish of a soldier's soul as well as the hope of being released by his comrades in arms.
The video clip below is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and is one of the most moving renditions of this song.
In the prison cell I sit,
Thinking Mother dear of you,
And our bright and happy home so far away,
And the tears they fill my eyes
Spite of all that I can do
Though I try to cheer my comrades
and be gay.
Chorus:
Tramp! tramp! tramp!
The boys are marching
Cheer up comrades,
They will come.
And beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved home.
In the battle front we stood
When their fiercest charge they made,
And they swept us off a hundred men or more;
But before we reached their lines
They were beaten back, dismayed,
And we heard the cry of vict'ry o'er and o'er.
So within the prison cell
We are waiting for the day
That shall come to open wide the iron door;
And the hollow eye grows bright
And the poor heart almost gay
As we think of seeing home and friends once more.
"The Doctor," a Time Lord, regularly regenerates into different incarnations as he travels through time and space, usually with a mortal female companion. His vehicle, the TARDIS, resembles an old fashioned British Police Box, which is bigger on the inside that the outside. Oh, the marvels of science fiction.
The Doctor and Rose encounter a young woman, Nancy, who recently lost a close member of her family. Scavenging for food during the air raids, while most Londoners are in their bomb shelters, Nancy cares for many children, left orphans by the war.
In this following scene from "The Empty Child," the Doctor commends Nancy for their tenacity, during a time which Sir Winston Churchill had described as "their finest hour."
In this following clip of the second part, "The Doctor Dances," Rose, who as a time traveller knows that VE Day is coming, offers Nancy encouragement.
In these episode clips, I saw a Christian allegory for our present times.
We feel the fury of the enemy dropping bombs of cruel hate all about to dishearten us, defeat us, demoralize us, and destroy everything that is good in this life. At times, there appears no deliverance or escape from the evil in this world and no end to the assaults of the enemy.
But we know Someone greater than a fictional Time Lord - the Lord of time and space, Creator of the universe. And He has already written the future:
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:9,10 (King James Version)
He is engaged in this long war between good and evil in human history. And to encourage us, He tells us how it will all end - He wins!
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Isaiah 25:8, 9 (King James Version)
His VE Day - Victory over Everything - is coming when -
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. Hebrews 2:8 (King James Version)
As we endure the Blitz of these present spiritual battles and tribulations in this world, may His finest hour be lived through us by the power of His Spirit.
It only took a fall. A broken hip. Then everything changed.
Now, my mother-in-law is transitioning from independent to assisted living. As we have cleared out her apartment and moved her to a new place, we have stumbled upon tokens of a lifetime of memories.
As part of the greatest generation, my mother-in-law has lived through the Great Depression, has been a wife to a soldier before, during, and after World War Two and mother to baby-boomers. Since late 2008, she felt compelled to write down some memories of these, which have enjoyed many visitors in cyberspace:
As this 92 years old lives out her latest chapter, I am comforted by this blog post: Why You Aren't Dead Yet. The best is yet to come.
The following Psalm is for all ages as we transition through the various stages of life:
O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! Psalm 71:17-19 (King James Version)
Photo courtesy of everystockphoto.com: Handprint
Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
So go the first verses of Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
On April 18, 1775, it is unlikely Paul Revere cried out, "The British are coming!" as the American colonists at this time considered themselves British subjects and such a warning would only confuse them.
The following day, April 19, 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord would the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.
The phrase "the shot heard around the world" comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose grandfather fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world.
from Concord Hymn
Today, this phrase that has come to represent historical incidents throughout world history.
As for summing up what happened 235 years ago and the start of the American Revolution, The Shot Heard Round the World- Schoolhouse Rock shows it best:
It took her three tries. That's what my grandmother had told me. Finally in 1913, she immigrated from Austria-Hungary to America.
First try, Grandma got scared and turned back at the Rock of Gibraltar. Next time in 1912, she tried to board the Carpathia. She could not afford first class. No way would she go in steerage. Second class was all sold out.
If Grandma had made that trip on her second attempt, what a story she could have told. That particular voyage on that ship was the one that rescued the survivors of the Titanic.
Many movies have been made about this ill-fated voyage of this "unsinkable" ship, such as:
Survivors allege that the musicians on the Titanic played "Nearer my God to Thee" to calm the passengers while the ship was sinking. This hymn sung by the passengers and crew in the 1997 film version conveys how quickly our focus can change when we realize we are about to step into eternity. For those perishing, social standing and wealth, or lack of it, suddenly seem unimportant.
The Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage, April 10, 1912. It hit an iceberg close to midnight on April 14. It sank over two hours later in the early morning of April 15. Of her 2,228 passengers and crew members who set sail, only 705 survived.
In my neck of the woods, the men and women in the Army National Guard, who have spent the last year in Iraq and Kuwait, are coming home.
In the cities, I see businesses display marquee's and signs:
Welcome Home, Troops!
or
Thank you, Soldiers!
American Flags, yellow ribbons, and appreciation signs are displayed along the streets, on fences, in windows, on bulletin boards, or are hung from buildings.
I am so thankful for the internet, where I can find sentiments that I find hard to put in words or in pictures.
One such website has created this wonderful tribute:
In 1981, I was living the California as the Easter season was approaching. Then, I was awaken early in the morning by a large BANG. It was an earthquake. And it was loud enough to wake the dead.
My thoughts took me to the first Easter. Back then, there were earthquakes that actually did wake the dead. The Gospel of Matthew - and only the Gospel of Matthew - records such an account when Jesus died on the cross:
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Matthew 27:50-54 (King James Version)
I always wanted to hear more about this earthquake that woke the dead. Please! Matthew, tell us more! But he doesn't. And neither do the other Gospel writers.
As it says in the Law of Moses:
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 29:28 (King James Version)
And this is one of those times.
Twenty-one centuries later, we still experience earthquakes. Yet, the hope of Easter is that it looks to the future, as we wait, too, for the dead to awake:
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.
John 5:28 (King James Version)
Death is only temporary. The New Testament calls it sleep. And we will all wake up.
