Civil War

Dallin and I had the chance to see the Hale Center Theatre's Civil War production. It was fantastic.

Of course, it goes through the civil war and highlights the confederate and union armies, and also highlights slaves lives. During the entire production I kept thinking, "This is real, it's not just a story." It sort of changed me.

I am no history buff, I enjoy history, but don't have the mind for it. I don't retain facts and historical information for longer than a few days, but tonight it sort of has stuck with me. This last fall, I read the series Faith of our Fathers. It is a four book series that details the civil war. The characters are all involved with the war in different aspects. I enjoyed these books, they weren't a favorite, but they were very informational.

When I read these books, and watching this play, I realized that these people really believed in their cause. This was a time in our history that people were bound by a common cause, whether it was the confederate cause or the union cause, they were bound together to fight for their side of that cause. I find it striking that there was a time in our history that allowed brother to fight brothers, families on different sides fighting for what they felt was the cause.

I could go on and on about this, and some of my realizations tonight, but one more thing. The thing I found extremely interesting were the slaves. Here is an oppressed people, and yet they were always hopeful. They buoyed each other up, encouraged those around them. They had hard lives. Even after the war was over, it still took decades to claim their rights. The slaves that were in the heat of the civil war, never were fully treated without prejudice. I find it fascinating that they kept their faith, they still called on their Maker and praised Him for what they had been given. Now I know this isn't the case for all slaves, and these were dark times, but they did a good job of moving forward and dealing with what was happening.

This was a dark, dark time in our history as a nation. It is staggering the statistics, and numbers from this war. So many lives were lost, changed, or shattered because of this war. This war shaped our nation in many ways. I know that now we look back and say, "well the South was obviously in the wrong," or this or that, but these people had lives, and they were just trying to preserve their way of life.

I am proud to be an American, proud of our way of life, this means I have to recognize all that went forth prior to my life to bring me the freedoms I now enjoy.