United We Stand Divided We Fall

An American Tragedy

There has been much to contemplate since the events of September 11, 2001 regarding our Country and it's citizens. Many pages have already been written filled with sorrow and emotion regarding the dastardly act of terror and war against the people of New York, Washington D.C. and the United States. The view of the wreckage is reminiscent of a scene from the movie "Terminator", and, amidst the tragic loss of life and property, many, still in a state of shock, wonder, "What's this all about? We just want to be left alone in peace." But alas, the United States have been invaded!
A look at the past may provide some clarity for the present.
Some 143 years ago the Southern States of this nation felt much the same as their yearning for liberty and constitutional freedom led them to form what they hoped would be a peaceful nation. But they, too, would be invaded.
And as the citizens of today look in horror at this devastation, sadly there are none alive to remember a different reign of terror on American soil.
Some in today's media have been heard to remark that this is the first time women and children have been targeted in such an attack, but, in the fall of 1864, as United States General William Tecumseh Sherman and his soldiers marched from Atlanta to the sea, he left in his wake a like tragedy, as the lives and property of civilians were consumed in a similar fiery ball. His men cut a path 300 miles in length and 60 miles wide as they passed through Georgia, destroying factories, bridges, railroads, public buildings, homes and farms, terrorizing a Nation that sought only liberty and peace. That those victims of yesteryear had some warning of what was to come was of little comfort as they had not the means to prevent it and the loss of life and property, just as today, was immeasurable to the citizens of their time. And for those who survived, their very means of existence had been taken away. Who today will condemn that action? Who will stop to reflect on the feelings of the Southern Nation so many years in the past?
Sadly, since those days, the ego of the victor of that struggle for freedom has centralized against the citizens, and, laying aside the very reason the several States created the Union, became mired in an outward fight for political domination, slowly suspending the rights of it's very creators, bent on swallowing the parts to feed the whole. These States, unable to patrol their own borders have been left exposed to a myriad of evils. Can we now say that these colonies are the United States of America, each expressing their individualism and free will?
We have been terrorized in the past, and it has been said that studies of these events have provided warnings of what would come. Could it be that, in the midst of partisan politics and concerned with a negative media image, many of our leaders felt that prophesy too disturbing, and not wanting trouble, buried their heads in the sand?
Over 140 years ago, a nation was called to prayer by its president, during a time of severe sorrow. The date was Friday, 27 March 1863; that nation was the Confederate States of America.
"To this end I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate State States of America, do issue this my proclamation, setting apart Friday, the 27th day of March, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer; and I do invite the people of the said States to repair on that day to their places of worship, and to join in prayer to Almighty God, that He will preciously restore to our beloved country, the blessing of peace and security. In faith whereof I have hereunto set my hand at the city of Richmond on the twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three."
/s "JEFFERSON DAVIS"
The cause of Freedom, Liberty and Godliness, so tenaciously held by the Southern Nation is no less honorable or just in these trying times as it was so many years ago. And as we now stand with our brothers and sisters to the North in their hour of trial, may we call for them to unite with us in a return to the fundamental principles of Constitutional law our fathers so unselfishly fought for us to inherit.
This cause is just. This cause is honorable. This cause is real. It should never be pre-empted. It matters not from where an enemy of freedom and liberty emerges or by what name or cause it proclaims. It is the solemn duty of all Americans to fight against it until it is driven back in defeat or destroyed. Whether such a threat arises from outside or inside our borders makes no difference. Whether such a threat claims to be a Foreign Government or our own Government matters not. If either seeks to enslave the American people and to deny our rights and established liberties then all Americans are duty bound to join together in a common bond of mutual support until the threat is neutralized. This is the whole reason for being United. Glenn Nunley. North Florida.