GETTYSBURG
The first thing I saw, as we approached Gettysburg, was a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Tears immediately welled up in my eyes as I reflected on the America he gave us by his undaunted devotion to the cause of Humanity. I know he was called of God to do this work on the earth and that this was his sacred mission to remind us that we are all Children of God and that as Children of God, we should be equally free... And then, we proceeded to walk upon sacred ground and look over vistas of meadows where men devoted to the cause of right and unity gave their hearts and often their lives to create the life we live every day as we open our eyes and realize we are free men living in a free country, united by God’s servants who “did the work” of life and death. The ultimate experience for Jim, Jack and I was to walk on Little Round Top where the courage of a few men turned the tide. This pivotal miracle redirected our Civil War toward the unity and freedom that Abraham Lincoln held firmly in his eyes of vision and his heart of love for all mankind. During our hike through the hills, paths and boulders, Jack looked back at me as I was climbing down a bank of boulders and said, “Are you OK, Mom?” Later on, when crossing a road, I became separated from my “boys.” I noticed Jack, who was just ahead of me, had come back to wait for me and make sure I crossed safely to the other side. As unrelated as these simple kindnesses may seem, to me, they were profoundly representative of our entire Gettysburg experience. My husband has always been the ultimate example in word and deed as Provider/Protector of his family, and now, before me were the acts of a young son who had grown in his heart the workings of a man devoted to his future as Provider/Protector. Men, young and old, left the comfort of home and loved ones to go to war to preserve the peace and freedom of the loved ones that needed to be provided for and protected by a nation that could offer this. There are graveyards all across the world filled with the lives of people devoted to right and good and peace and joy and freedom for their families. It has been since the beginning of time that these sacrifices have been made... As we left Gettysburg I was not only filled with the energy of the history, with the love in the souls that breathed up from the ground into my heart, but also with the beautiful “present- the now” of a man and a son who walked before me to make sure I am OK.
