Shades of Gray on Decoration Day

So it's been a while.


The Spring has been busy and loaded with events, travels, a few disasters and the trappings of everyday life. In the words of a hero, "so it goes".

Mentioning such a hero is a fitting way to start this entry as heroes are what make this weekend possible. For that matter, they make most everything possible. And so we set out to place men and women on tall pedestals and revere them for great works that they have done. Such great men and women walk on a plain above us. They are not susceptible to error or wrongdoing.. And if we find them guilty of wrong, we drag them from their pedestal and cast them from the ranks of demigods, back to a life as a lowly commoner...perhaps even a criminal. I won't even enter into the examples of this from the ranks of American celebrities that we drag out until they become cliche.

One of my journeys this spring carried me to a rural patch of land on the Tennessee River, where the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi all meet up. In places, it is so desolate that a man will stop and ask for directions. And so I did.

Oh, I was on the right road, the lady reassured me of that. I needed to only drive a few miles until I saw the "kwairy" which, incidentally is a hole in the ground from which rock is harvested. The lady was not the best speaker in the world, had obviously seen better days...if not years. But in that moment, she was a hero to me. She was a friendly source of practical knowledge along a poorly marked road. She probably had no advanced education of the significance of my destination, but she knew where it was and how I could find it. She saved my morning.

And so we finally found the location of Pittsburg Landing. Better known to American History as Shiloh

My son and I walked through a cemetery filled with fallen Union soldiers. We saw the  "trenches", mass graves filled with the Confederate dead. We walked around Bloody Pond, where the wounded of both armies turned the still water red.

I was almost brought to tears when we walked from the monument where Albert Sidney Johnston was shot to the the small ditch where he was carried to die. It was so far from his native Texas. He had left the US Army at 58 years old. He had been a hero in previous wars. At Shiloh, he fought his last.

In the midst of the Union Cemetery is a marker for the location of Grant's Headquarters. We also saw sites that were significant to Sherman's involvement. There was the location of Fallen Timbers, where Forrest was nearly killed but instead elevated himself to legend status.

And my mind comes back to the trenches. Family members requested safety to bury their dead. But Grant had already buried them in the trenches due to the heat of the day. And so, the mass of Confederate dead lie unmarked. Known only to God.

Heroes and villains....depending on who you talk to.

And as I shared such important time with my son, teaching him and learning with him - even learning some from him, I wondered to myself what it all meant. It can be a humbling thing to stand in such a place and have an eleven-year-old boy in a blue kepi ask you who the good guys were. I wanted to just make it short and answer "yes and no". But I knew that answer was not good enough for him. Or for me.

So, for months I have thought about it. Other events have played a role and I've come to realize that a war that is often painted, quite literally, so black and white is just not that simple. And when I look at my personal heroes, they aren't that simple. And then I have to look inside myself for the Grace to grant these people the right to maintain their humanity while still remaining heroes - the Grace to live in the mores and standards of their day - the Grace to make mistakes but still be great.

And so I hold my nose for an ATBIG first. I have to share a quote by the monster and war criminal William T. Sherman: "General Grant is a great general. I know him well. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always."

Loyalty born of Grace and a common struggle. I'd be hypocritical to recognize the evils of these two men and somehow pretend I am above them. I'd be in the wrong if I denied them the ability to be heroes to someone and pretend that everyone holds the same opinion of me that my children do. Because "hero" is a tricky word and can find itself on the oddest labels. And evils, both real and imagined, can cloud our judgement towards people, allowing us to skew their stories.

So, on the Decoration Day (the original name of Memorial Day) weekend, while swimming, eating and drinking, take time to remember heroes from all shades of gray that lie in graves and trenches while we party. Remember those that lie in graves and trenches so we can party. And, please grant Grace to those heroes. Someone, somewhere believes in them.

"Spirit"ed Sunday

Well there is a new governor in the Peach State and so far it has been...hmmm...not very different. That is to be expected when you have a term-limited governor of one party is replaced by a new man from the same party. Considering our options, we came out better than we could have. So, no complaints so far.

The only thing making the news since the transfer of power, besides the silly amounts of snow, is the unprecedented attempt by government to, and you'll have to make sure you are sitting down on this one, try to let local governments govern themselves.

The decision is setting off protests, drawing more than a share of negative attention as Atlanta tries to trust places like Marietta, Rome, Augusta, Sycamore and Folkston with a referendum that would grant these same places to hold local referendums to decide on the most controversial of subjects - whether free adults should be allowed to purchase a legal product (a good bit of which is manufactured by Georgians in Georgia) every day of the week.

Why is this so controversial? Because the product is good ol' Demon Rum.

Georgia has long held on to a blue law, archaic and silly, that states that the sale of alcohol in stores is against illegal on Sunday. There are only two groups of people that still support this law. "Bootleggers" - people that sell on Sunday illegally, gaining sales as people travel from other locales to buy the stuff. The other group is a certain large religious organization that shall remain nameless so as to prevent the threats of bodily harm I receive when I mention them. I don't think it is a military secret but I'll go so far as to say it isn't the Methodists.

I'm still dumbfounded by the claims that have left us in this outdated quagmire for so long. There is no evidence that God disapproves of the consumption of alcohol. He even went so far as to include it in one of the holiest of Old Testament rituals, one that has carried over to this day in a different form. When Jesus passed the Passover cup to that first disciple, it was not full of Welch's or Juicy Juice.

I think what baffles me the most is that, in the locations that are going to pass Sunday sales, it is already legal to buy alcohol by the drink, just not in a package. What this means is that at 12 noon (the magic hour when the group ends their meetings) a person can commence drinking at a sports bar, taking in a ball game. A few hours later this person can leave their glass and get in their car to go home. But this same person is not allowed to buy a package of beverages and go home and drink. Does that make sense to anyone?

The thing in Georgia this year is that Nathan Deal has decided that free adults should be allowed to make decisions about this on a local level where Sonny Purdue believes that all Georgians should be held to his religious standards every Sunday. So we have Constitutional individual liberty replacing the equivalent of Sharia Law in Georgia. There is hope for our future.

There are many people who would wonder how someone who loves Southern culture and tradition is so excited about the ending of an era that is labeled as "Southern". I would answer that distilling and brewing have been a part pf southern Culture since before there was such a thing as Southern Culture. The fact that the region was settled by immigrants from places like Scotland that brought rich traditions with them, including whiskey, further stamps this in our culture. And nothing could be more Southern than local control.

So raise a glass to the referendum on referendums!

"X" Marks the Spot

'Tis the season to be offended.
Let's face it, America today is infested by a  big gaggle of crybabies that feels the overwhelming desire to keep thin skin, carry a chip on their shoulder, and be offended at the drop of a hat. One segment of this tribe is offended if you have a Jesus-centered display, the other segment is offended if you don't. We hear moans and groans about the political correctness or religiosity of statements like "Season's Greetings", "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas". I can just see the hate and ire embedded in each of these horribly offensive statements and I know why you could equal each one to the good ol' one-fingered wave.

Frankly, I am offended that they are offended. Let's build a bridge and get over it.

That in mind, there is one particular offensive statement that I want to disarm right now. The dreaded, terrible, horrible one. The one that makes small children cry for their mommies and leaves grown men suffering mind-altering nightmares that sit up in bed with a scream and a cold sweat. That right, I mean that one the big one. The X--- one.

So why is it that we have "Xmas"? Where did it come from. Obviously, some liberal set out on a campaign to "x-out" Christ from Christmas. That is the only answer.

Or is it?

Let's try this one: The “X” in Xmas is in no way an attempt to eliminate Christ from Christmas. On the contrary, “Xmas” goes back several centuries in Church history and is even evident in many traditions and denominations of the Church today. Instead of being an English alphabet “x” the letter is actually a Greek letter Chi that is the first portion of the monogram of Christ as shown in the labarum – “Chi-Rho” – represented in the Greek “XP”. The Greek word “Χριστός” is the word we translate into English as “Christ”. So just as we might shorten the name Christopher to Chris we could also shorten Χριστός to X. And people have used this shortened version for several centuries – not as a substitution, but as a more familiar and casual expression.

Here is the funny part. This simple knowledge can allow one of the offended groups to drop the argument entirely. We can have some peace on Christmas (or Xmas) by just smiling when we see it, knowing what it means and knowing that if an ignorant person thinks they are trying to "x-out" Jesus, they are really just identifying Him in a more familiar and casual manner and that Christ is honored - what was meant for evil has been used for good.

I hope that you did not allow the beginning of this one offend you to the point of not reaching this far. I hope you find the meaning of Christmas in that Christ can for peace, good will toward men. Most of all I hope you have a blessed and holy Xmas.