Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.
By: Carl Sandburg
I have always LOVED history.
I love studying about history. I love daydreaming about history. I love imagining myself as an actor in the past and considering how I would act were I to be inserted into events gone by.
In my youth, the pages of history provided me with a healthy "escape" from reality. For example, throughout my first year of junior high (7th) grade, I was miserable due to the onset of OCD combined with the loss of innocence that seemed to accompany my peers' rocky transitions from elementary school to junior high.
But I was often able to escape my unhappiness by stealing away into books such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series. This adventure in reading was further supplemented by watching the television version of the same material. As I soaked in these historical fiction narratives and events, I often found my heart clamoring after days of yore, and wishing I could have lived in simpler times myself.
My fascination with military history and war in general was spawned at a very young age and has not abated much as an adult. Few things are more interesting to me than reading books or watching audio-visual content about past armed conflicts. I am also an Eagle Scout and have participated in several re-enactments of the Battle of San Jacinto, which is staged each April in Southeast Texas, both of which further instilled in me a love of uniformed organizations and military-esque historical events and memorials.
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| General Sir Henry Rawlinson Commander of the British 4th Army at the Somme. |
In many cases, I have felt something akin to a nostalgic sense of historical FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)—almost to the point of disappointment that my lot has been such as to preclude me from the famous events I have read about and studied so deeply and widely. Consequently, I can appreciate what motivated and inspired the Great War Poet, Alan Seeger, to famously write:
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade
When Spring comes round with rustling shade
And apple blossoms fill the air.
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath;
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
By: Alan Seeger
 |
| U.S. Infantryman of the First World War |
Seeger, a British volunteer infantryman, was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916)—the bloodiest and most disastrous day in the history of the British Army. This famous "Great War Poet" was one of 57,000 British "Tommys" who would be killed or wounded that fateful day—many of whom were mowed down by German machine gun fire after crawling out of their trenches and advancing across "No Man's Land." Despite a seven-day artillery bombardment involving more than a million shells prior to the attack, the Germans were still alive, well, and prepared to meet the British that tragic morning.
Following this infamous opening day, the Battle of the Somme would rage on for four more terrible months, cost well over a million casualties, and ultimately rank as one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Although technically a British victory that served to wear down the German Army, only a few miles of ground had been gained in the process.
Despite these recurring thoughts and feelings of nostalgia and yearning for famous (and obscure) events in the past, I have come to the conclusion over the years that I have been uniquely blessed with the very best of both worlds. In other words, through my enthusiastic, diligent, and ongoing study of history, I have been able to vicariously participate in far more activities and events than I could have ever dreamed of actually playing a palpable part. Moreover, I have been able to do so without getting shot, having a limb cut off, being run through by a bayonet, slashed by a saber, or blown to bits by a cannonball or artillery shell. Indeed, I have survived every battle in which my imagination has ever participated—and lived to fight another day, and another, and another. In fact, I have been able to participate in many of the same battles over and over again, further enriching my overall understanding, experience, and wisdom derived there from.
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| Downtown Dubai; United Arab Emirates History is endlessly interesting and exciting... But so is the PRESENT age in which we live! |
Truly, it is the best of both worlds!
Thus, I no longer feel the same degree of longing or wistfulness to have actually been present at so many interesting (and in many cases, dangerous) events in the past. After all, had I actually been there, I may not have lived to tell the tale, much less be able to continue my study of the conflicts. Furthermore, I would have missed all of the exciting wonders of the age in which I live today.
It's a pretty good deal!
And one for which I thank my Maker.
Please don't get the wrong idea from reading this article. War is a terrible thing. I have no bloodlust or desires to kill my fellow human beings under any circumstances. I will, however, be forever intrigued by the complex human affairs and events that lead to armed conflicts—and that motivate individual participants to play various roles within those conflicts. And I am further fascinated by the characteristics and virtues that inspire noble deeds on the battlefield—attributes and actions such as courage, compassion, friendship, loyalty, mercy, strength, determination, persistence, endurance, patriotism, integrity, and nobility—for there is no question that war brings out some of the very best examples of humanity alongside some of its darkest shades of evil. I believe there is value in studying it all in an effort to exemplify the positive while seeking to eliminate the negative in the FUTURE.
Therein lies the great Opportunity in the diligent study and observation of history.
Opportunity
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel—
That blue blade that the king's son bears—but this
Blunt thing!"—he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
—Edward R. Sill
Our greatest OPPORTUNITY in studying history lies in the chance to learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before and then avoid making the same mistakes in our own lives in the present and future.
In the words of a Prophet-General from a famous book of religious scripture (The Book of Mormon):
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been" (Mormon 9:31).
—Dr. JJ
April 26, 2023
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Author's Note: This is the 318th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 144th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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