by Rob Branson
Introduction. I wrote this article after a hot July 2024 trip down the Southern half of the Great River Road Scenic Byway, having done the Northern trek a year earlier (it’s better). In between mosquito attacks to and fro, I had a lot of time to ponder about Life, the Universe and Everything (including those damn “turnings”). When you hit the big 7-0, your perspective on things changes as you come closer to the end game. This requires some humility about yourself and your place in the world. Even when you know you are right.
Recently, I went on a long road trip to escape the nonsense of our world, stopping in places like the Vicksburg MS National Military Park (a key Civil War win for the North) and Morgan City LA (home of the first oil platform that you can actually tour).
As I was cruising down the highway seeing what is left of Americana, I had a lot of time to think about our lives on planet earth.
I thought about all the people that died quite horribly during the Vicksburg battle that made Grant the hero for the North for splitting the Confederacy in two and making the path to total victory only a matter of time.
During the battle for Vicksburg, whole families were starved out and some forced to cannibalism during a 47 day siege after conventional warfare couldn’t break the back of a perfectly defended city. As a result, many woman and children had to leave the safety of their homes on the Hill and live in caves “under hill”. The commanding General (Pembroke) who was entrusted by Jefferson Davis to safeguard the city had his faults as a commander (from the North) but ultimately was forced to surrender, ending the siege on July 4 1863. That date was picked by the General because he thought he could get better terms from Unconditional Surrender Grant.
And, he did.
With Gettysburg also in the bag at nearly exactly the same time, Lincoln was elated. He had his two big wins, yet the war was to last two more years as the South simply petered out.
Although Lee’s surrender at Appomattox was in 1865 the Civil War officially ended on Aug. 20, 1866, when President Johnson declared the “insurrection” 1 was over in all Confederate states except Texas.
During my long trip from Vicksburg to Morgan City, going through many small towns still hanging on by a thread, I thought about all the people that came before us in America and fought in the Civil War that divided people and country. All for a cause both sides believed enough to make them kill each other.
Sadly, looking back, it was clear the War was wholly unneeded as the South, seceding for both economic and cultural causes, would never have lasted for much more than a single generation given the morally and Biblically correct worldwide movement away from Slavery. In effect, the South would have been in a siege as bad as Vicksburg. But alas, when Tyrants rule from the Left of the Right, they must have their way and get what they want – now.
I thought about the people that died in so many awful wars here and abroad. I then thought about the emotions and the human condition that drives men to war – arrogance, greed and pride come to mind. That is humanity’s state of mind at its most primitive. Some call that condition of our existence Sin while others write it off as just having a bad day.
Even more to the root of our failings, I think it’s that human beings live a short existence (whether 8 years or 80 it’s barely a flash of light in a largely dark Universe) knowing that they will inevitably die and proceed to a place they believe in, or don’t believe in.
Believers and Atheists alike must live within that fateful human condition. It’s how we deal with it, seeing the suffering in life and trying to make sense of it all, that causes the ill effects with life on earth.
Our Options
How we deal with our human condition is key to a good and meaningful life.
For many through the ages, that condition breeds narcissim and hate. So, we wage war against one another trying to get one more feather in our hat that provides a temporary boost to our egos, until the next fall makes us do a repeat.
Or, we can get along and try to be peacemakers even knowing in our hearts that it may be for naught because of Sin. And because none of us can know for sure (without faith) if our lives have ultimate meaning or are just a blip in time in a dark world.
Then I thought that all of us are exactly the same. We all suffer through our existence and fears never knowing when and how our lives will end and where we go when we breathe our last. It’s how we deal with these issues that differentiates us.
All of us have the same inevitable fears that comes with our self-conscious existence and inability to be sure and confident about how everything came to be, including ourselves. No matter if you were born in what used to be the Land of the Free (America), Sumatra or Uganda – all of us are the same at the most basic human level.
I thought about all the people that have lived their lives and died. Some of them starving and suffering during a siege, dying on a battlefield, by a chronic or acute illness or peacefully in their beds.
Then, I thought about this:
- It is estimated that 108 billion people have lived and died on Planet Earth.
- Of that total, just 7% of all humans who have ever lived are alive today.
We are all in the Minority
That puts you who are now reading this, and everyone else given the magic of life by a single Creator (aka designer) who are still with us, in the same category.
So, looking upon the White, Black and Brown faces in places like Vicksburg and Morgan City, I pondered our common human condition that makes everyone of us in the land of the living part of the the plan, whether we know it or not.
I then began to realize that you and I and everyone else who are in alive inside the greatest mystery of all are all in the minority. Everyone. No race, ethnicity or color is excluded. How’s that for my Diversity and Inclusion test?
And, wouldn’t it be nice if we could begin to treat each other as being in the same lifeboat with the same fears and anxieties that comes with being a human being – still temporarily alive and in the minority?
As I pondered that question I began to think long and hard about how I have sometimes failed to treat my fellow man as I would like to be treated. That is what Jesus said, repeated by St. Paul, was the Greatest Commandment after loving God with all your heart and soul.
We call it The Golden Rule.
Maybe if more of us lived by that rule, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in as a Nation, and a people.
And that is my wish.
Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas!
Sic Semper Tyrannis
1 There have been three real Insurrections in United States History. The last one was on November 3, 2020, by people that don’t know the Golden Rule.
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