Out and About

Yesterday I went to Gettysburg with
a friend.  It was nice to have a day
that seemed almost "normal."

We took a bus tour which was quite
wonderful.  My friend got a bit more
of it than I did, as extreme tiredness
overwhelmed me at one point.

I felt grateful to be there at all.  It has
been very difficult to plan anything,
and yet here I was out and about - and
better yet, enjoying myself.


It was a very somber place to visit.  So many died there fighting for what they believed in.
If it wasn't for those in the Union army, we would not possibly have a country like we do
now, as it is known as a pivotal war in this country's growth.

Many might think those in the south were "wrong" in what they believed, and the bias is
evident on the grounds as there are many tributes to the Union soldiers, but not to the
Confederate ones.  Thinking about this I think about how things labeled have a tendency
to divide us and set up a fight - and that can be anything.  "Good" and "Bad" people, and
food, and places, and things.

I think about how when I think about the chemotherapy I am doing my best to see it as
a "good" thing.  Many see it as "bad."  Which one is "right?"  Of course those who see
it as bad would think they are right.  I am going to go with I am right, though.  At the
same time, I will say that given their perspective, they are also right.  How much of
what we label one way can be labelled another by another?  I suspect quite a bit.

As with anything in life, what we do and think and say all seems to contribute to an
outcome of some sort.  One of the outcomes of a conflict about whether or not slaves
were something that was OK was a war in which thousands died.  Those who were
involved were more interested in protecting their interests than protecting life itself.

Makes me wonder what I am fighting for.

Saying that makes me think it could have a dual meaning:
Why am I fighting in the first place? (as opposed to some other route)
What am I so focused on that I might fight to the death for it?

I would guess these are good questions for me to ask myself.  I have to admit, there
is something about them that makes me uncomfortable, and it may have something
to do with the word/idea of death.  I am uncomfortable with the idea of death, but
I am not exactly comfortable with the idea of life at the moment.

Interesting paradox.

A few years back I had a moment in which I was thinking about Lincoln's Gettysburg
address and how it might be interpreted in a much broader way than it has been.
While he was talking specifically about the war and those who fought in it, I wondered
how it would be to interpret it in a way that spoke more of the human experience here
on this planet.

I will leave you with it, and my interpretation (words in [ ])

Four score and seven years ago [Once upon a time] our fathers [God, Our Father, Higher Being] brought forth on this continent [earth] a new nation [life], conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men [all people, everywhere] are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war [man against man], testing whether that nation [life] or any nation [life] so conceived and so dedicated can long endure [can life as we know it continue?]. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field [anywhere on earth] as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live [that life as we know it can continue]. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground [it is already dedicated, consecrated, and hallowed]. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here [people throughout all time] have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, [human memory can be short-lived] but it [God, Our Father, Higher Being] can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work [the process of learning and growing for which life has been created] which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause [the pursuit of life and living] for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation [life] under God shall have a new birth of freedom [a renewed vision of life], and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth [that people - who are all One as humanity - will allow the cycle of human life to continue].