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Thread: A moment in time

  1. #1
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    A moment in time

    On April 8, 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant was having a hard night. His army had been harrying Confederate General Robert E. Lee's for days, and Grant knew it was only a question of time before Lee had to surrender. The people in the Virginia countryside were starving and Lee's army was melting away. Just that morning, a Confederate colonel had thrown himself on Grant's mercy after realizing that he was the only man in his entire regiment who had not already abandoned the cause. But while Grant had twice asked Lee to surrender, Lee still insisted his men could fight on.
    So, on the night of April 8, Grant retired to bed in a Virginia farmhouse, dirty, tired, and miserable with a migraine. He spent the night "bathing my feet in hot water and mustard, and putting mustard plasters on my wrists and the back part of my neck, hoping to be cured by morning." It didn't work. When morning came, Grant pulled on his clothes from the day before and rode out to the head of his column with his head throbbing.
    As he rode, an escort arrived with a note from Lee requesting an interview for the purpose of surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia. "When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache," Grant recalled, "but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured."
    The two men met in the home of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee had dressed grandly for the occasion in a brand new general's uniform carrying a dress sword; Grant wore simply the "rough garb" of a private with the shoulder straps of a Lieutenant General.
    But the images of the noble South and the humble North hid a very different reality. As soon as the papers were signed, Lee told Grant his men were starving, and asked if the Union general could provide the Confederates with rations. Grant didn't hesitate. "Certainly," he responded, before asking how many men needed food. He took Lee's answer-- "about twenty-five thousand"-- in stride, telling the general that "he could have... all the provisions wanted."
    The humility of both men is palpable--how difficult must it have been for Gen Lee to "beg" for rations and how humble it was of Gen Grant to respond with compassion and not gloating. A moment in time that helped to begin to restore advisories to brothers.

    We could use some of those qualities today.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  2. #2
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    I keep re-reading this piece and come away with differing thoughts as a result.

    The most prominent now, is the demonstrated civility of these two former adversaries. They moved from a state of war to a place of demonstrated respect, with no need to inflict more pain or display dominance. It seemed unimportant to them---they seemed intent on moving on and beginning the healing of the country.

    I compare that to what we now (and for some time now) see in our Federal Government. No longer are our representatives motivated by what is good for the country, rather what is good for the party. I can't help but connect this ongoing adversarial posture on both sides of the aisle to what is going on in the country as it relates to civil unrest and mass shootings. We are unable and/or unwilling to talk and listen to each other---we have a model confronting us daily which is one of isolation of the parties---either you do it my way or I will stuff it down your throat. Without question, the blame for that is shared between the "combatants".

    I struggle with the image of Schumer and McConnell in that tent and the conversation might have gone like this: My men are hungry, you bastards have starved us half to death---I demand food...and the reply, FU pal---find it yourself---now get the hell out of my tent.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  3. #3
    Join Date
    10-23-01
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    This piece came to mind when I read an opinion piece on the filibuster.

    The author's position was historical - even during the Civil War, the filibuster was used rarely. Now, it is used constantly. He attributes this difference to an understanding that the filibuster is a power granted to the minority by the majority. After all, the majority could take it away at any time. Because of this consideration being granted to the minority party, the minority party agrees to use the filibuster very sparingly, and certainly not what we've seen recently: total blocking of the majority in hopes of a better position after the next election.

    That sort of cooperation and respect for each other that Grant and Lee epitomized may be a casualty of our present civil war.

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