Alan Pitts
Re: Why?
Mon Jul 2 13:36:06 2001


*** Hey Kyla ***

Most people will say they're interested in the war because a family member fought. Others have walked through a battlefield park like Lookout Mountain or Shiloh and left wanting to know more. Then again, many of the same issues and questions that troubled the country then are still with us today.

Grandmother told me stories about the war she had heard as a girl. Her grandfather went to war at eighteen -- did he like any of my brothers or cousins? Was it fun to leave home with friends and family members and not know what would happen next? Did he get homesick later? How many came home? Grandmother's stories stirred my imagination and I started asking for books; still have a couple I got in the 4th grade.

People did things for different reasons then. Why were Denzell Washington, Mathew Broderick and Morgan Freeman so serioooous in "Glory"? Did you understand why Richard Gere didn't just say what people wanted to hear in "Sommersby" and get on with life with Jodie Foster? Honor? What was THAT all about?

Have seen the movie "Gettysburg"? It's good, but I think real soldiers didn't eat nearly as well as most of the extras. Ever wish that movie directors would stop creating Southern characters who are always mean and stupid? Too many bad guys are Southerners who "tawk lake th-is", have greasy hair, bad complexions, bad breath, bad attitudes, and say too much about religion.

Didn't care for a couple of scenes in "Gettysburg". One pokes fun at a boy from Tennessee who's "tawkin" to a Yankee from Maine. Says he's fighting for his rights, but the Yankee doesn't understand because when the Tennessee boy says "rights", it sounds like "rats". He's fightin' for his rats...real cute, huh? When I was thirteen I met a girl from Minnesota. Things were okay until I asked a question using the word "ten". She just stared at me. Then she repeated the word. It sounded like "tan" when she said it. I wanted to ask, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND the WORDS that ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?" She thought I said "tin". Should've laughed it off, but as you might guess, things went downhill from there....

It sounds silly, but what really did it for me was Civil War music. Know how you feel when you listen to a great song? Music can wind you up and put you at another level. People will go on about states rights, slavery and all that to try to explain the war. Maybe so, but most guys then (or now) wouldn't sit still for five minutes and listen to that stuff.

Guys then (and now) usually behave a certain way because strong feelings they can't really explain are driving them. Right? Southern boys didn't go off to war because it was the logical thing to do. Emotions made them yell and clap and fight (and other things); songs helped these boys express their feelings and put them into words. They're all dead and gone now, but songs that stirred their blood are still here, and if you listen carefully, you can hear voices from the past and share some of their feelings.

You probably wanted a shorter answer. Why are people today interested in things that happened way back then? There's a lot of different answers. Bottom line: when history is told the right way, it's a story about people. Just a story about people. WHAT they did, WHO did it and WHY, HOW they felt about it and what really happened. Dates, places and names aren't important if you miss the 'people' parts. If you enjoy people and like good stories, history is the place to be.

The Civil War is just one place in the past with one set of people. There are lots of others. Every once in a while I get bored and move on to something else.

WARNING: from personal experience, if you ever get involved, it's got some kind of magnetic attraction and will keep you pulling you back...