Luann Udell / Durable Goods

Today is a day of rememberance for those who fought for our precious freedoms--all of them--in times of war.

This fall we took part in the Veterans History Project, a project of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. If you would like to help preserve the stories of those who served, visit this site by clicking on the title. My husband recorded a short history of my father's experiences in WWII, when he served in SACO (Sino-American Cooperative Organization) the U.S. Navy's only dry land mission) in China.

For those who feel our country is irrevocably split in two after the recent presidential elections, you might want to pick up a copy of Connie Willis's first novel, LINCOLN'S DREAMS. It's a short book, probably take you a day to read, if that. The short story is, a research assistant who specializes in the American Civil War meets a young woman who seems to be channeling the dreams of Robert E. Lee. The dreams are dramatic, heart-wrenching scenes of Civil War battles from Lee's point of view. Annie, the young woman, senses that her reliving these dreams will somehow set Lee's soul at rest, and is determined to see them through, though the process is killing her.

I've never been a Civil War buff per se, but I could not put down this book. Typical of Willis's finest writing, you are caught up not only in her characters progress, but by the very subject they explore. I was moved to tears. I feel I now have a small sense of just how horrific and devastating this war truly was for all concerned.

Bozos come and bozos go, but let us pray the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will outlast them all. Let us pray that the greatest strengths of our country--its diversity and our ability to tolerate that diversity--will always prevail. And let us pray that the conflict we feel now never, ever comes even close to civil war again.