But we had with us, to keep and to care for, more than five hundred bruised bodies of men- men made in the image of God, marred by the hand of man and must we say in the name of God? And where is the reckoning for such things? And who is answerable? One might almost shrink from the sound of his own voice, which had launched into the palpitating air words of order- do we call it? - fraught with such ruin. Was it God's command we heard or His forgiveness we must forever implore?
Interpretation
This quote contemplates the moral implications of war and the suffering it causes, questioning divine command and human responsibility.
In this quote, Joshua Chamberlain reflects on the devastating reality of war, emphasizing the tragedy of human suffering among soldiers who, despite being made in God's image, have been wounded and scarred by human conflict. He grapples with the moral dilemmas of warfare, pondering whether the orders given were truly divine commands or if they instead require a plea for forgiveness, highlighting the profound ethical questions surrounding the devastation caused by such actions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the consequences of war during a remembrance ceremony.
There is a way of losing that is finding. When soul overmasters sense. When the noble and divine self overcomes the lower self. When duty and honor and love immortal things bid the mortal perish. It is only when a man supremely gives that he supremely finds
Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself - for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held.
I am not of Virginia blood; she is of mine.
In great deeds, something abides. On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls… generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.
Now I see that all relationships are virtual, even those that take place in person. Whether we use our bodies or a keyboard, it all comes down to two minds crying out from their solitude.
The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded. Therefore, anything that has the semblance of an external authority is rejected by Zen. Absolute faith is placed in a man's own inner being. For whatever authority there is in Zen, all comes from within.
Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.
It is inconceivable to me that a million or three million or half a million human beings will think and feel precisely the same way on any single subject.
Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent.
Things are never as bad or as good as they seem.
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