Unlike Mr. Tolstoy’s opus, this missive will be written with a view to brevity. On Thursday February 24th we arrived at the rather nondescript gate of Vicksburg Military Park. I knew very little about the goings on here but for the next 2 hours we listened to the well narrated audio description of the horrid events that foretold the battles and siege of Vicksburg. We passed many statues and markers extolling the bravery of troops from both sides. It was quite surreal as if describing brothers just arguing. When we left the park I learned that Russia had invaded Ukraine and I was struck by one commentator who quoted a soldier saying “we don’t know who to shoot, everyone looks just like us” Deja vu 150+ years later.
We traveled to our stop for the evening at the appropriately named Patch of Heaven farm. I sat outside the camper watching Finley running around playing with the owner’s dogs and feeling the goodness and wellbeing that peace and freedom can bring and just how lucky I was to be able to enjoy it.
War and peace are two sides of the same coin, let us hope that the coin lands peace side up.
I realize I have jumped ahead in our journey but I just needed to remark on the peculiar coincidence of the day and the sadness I felt. I hope you will forgive the indulgence. Don’t worry, normal service will resume shortly, you won’t miss a thing.
PS Please understand that I am in no way trying to equate the two conflicts.
Comments